


Welcome  To Sleepy Hollow

by diamondRings_andThingslikethat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Runaways (Comics), Runaways (TV 2017), Sleepy Hollow, Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Abbie Mills Is Working It, Abbie Mills and Tina Minoru are soulmates, Abbie doesn't want a soulmate but she needs Tina, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Amy Minoru is dead, F/F, F/M, Folklore, Frank Dean is dead, Ichabod and Abbie are just friends, It's definitely unrequited, Karolina Dean is an nephilim, Karolina and Leslie live in Sleepy Hollow, Karolina and Nico are soulmates, Karolina has a crush on Nico, LITERALLY, Leslie Dean is an angel, Minor Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru, Mythology - Freeform, Nico can use it, Nico has a crush on Jenny, Nico has been learning magic her whole life, PRIDE doesn't exist, People are gay okay, Robert Minoru is dead, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Staff of One, The Minoru women move to Sleepy Hollow, This is an AU nobody asked for, Tina Minoru is a badass, Tina Minoru is a fucking boss, Tina is bisexual, Tina still controls the Staff of One, Witches, but only sometimes, deanoru - Freeform, love happens, someone might die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22085719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamondRings_andThingslikethat/pseuds/diamondRings_andThingslikethat
Summary: Tina Minoru has been talking to her soulmate since she was eight.She knows every detail of her life, except where she lives or what her name is. Her soulmate struggles with the idea of destiny and belief. Her soulmate doesn't want to meet her, and Tina respects that. But, they stay friends, often time only finding solace in one another. Until one day, Tina gets a message from her soulmate that sends her to go Sleepy Hollow to find them.•or•Everyone is born with a journal matching their soulmate's, and they can write to each other back and forth via the journal.∆ The timeline for the events of the show Sleepy Hollow will be pushed back three years to 2017 because I want Nico to be 16 when the story starts.
Relationships: Abbie Mills & Jenny Mills, Abbie Mills/Luke Morales, Abbie Mills/Tina Minoru, Ichabod Crane & Abbie Mills & Jenny Mills, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru, Leslie Dean/Tina Minoru, Nico Minoru & Jenny Mills, Robert Minoru/Tina Minoru, Tina Minoru & Jenny Mills
Kudos: 18





	1. PROLOGUE, as told by Tina Minoru

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea. Bare with me.

Tina Minoru's soulmate is not Robert Minoru.

They both know that, and it's fine. They found love within each other despite it.

Robert's soulmate died young, right before college when he met Tina. He met her, and they were together for a short time before tragedy struck. Difficult as it was, he wasn't like most. He didn't wither away due to lost love. He willed himself to move forward, and fell in love with ease once he met Tina.

Tina loved her soulmate. She loved Robert, too, but they both knew it was different. But, Tina's soulmate didn't wish for them to be together, didn't even want to meet in person. So, Tina settle for letters in a journal, and meet ups in dreams. And, that's enough because most people can only write to their mates, can't see or touch them if it isn't in person. She created a dreamworld for them. It was almost as good as the real thing.

She lives her life around the longing she feels. Day after day, she hopes that one day, her soulmate will change their mind.

When she was eight, she wrote her soulmate for the first time.

It was late, raining too hard, thundering too loud, and it was hard for Tina to sleep. The Earth shook, nothing drastic. Few things fell off the shelves, spell books and enchanted pieces, jewelry and trinkets. Snow globes she had been collecting shattered, but no true damage was done. Small touch of magic and Tina was able to restore her bedroom to its original state. No amount of magic could calm her nerves, however. So, she reached into her nightstand, pulled out the heavy black journal and the feathered pen that went with it. Atop of every page was a Bible verse, from a Christian Bible. It was the one thing about Tina's journal that she didn't think was cool, seeing as it had no place in the life she lived. But, she figured it was for her soulmate seeing as it was their journal.

"Hi." Was all she wrote.

It wasn't a creative first writing, but whoever her soulmate was, she hoped they wouldn't dock her for it. Tina stared at the page, rereading the "Hi" over and over again, waiting for a response. They were both supposed to be able to write in it. That's what she had been told her whole life, but she wasn't sure, and she really wanted to see.

"Hey." Was all her soulmate wrote back. Tina didn't know how long it had taken. She had been too anxious to count the time.

It was as simple a response as the greeting Tina opened up with, but it didn't change the fact that her heart was making such an attempt to jump out of her chest that it physically hurt. She hadn't thought far enough ahead that she would get a response. She couldn't think of what to say next.

Lucky for her, she didn't have to.

"It's early." Was what her soulmate said next.

Tina's brows furrowed at that as she wrote, "It's late."

Her mate didn't take long to respond this time: "5:15 in the morning."

"It's 2:15 at night."

Her soulmate wrote back, faster than she did the last time, and Tina could feel her adrenaline running through her veins.

"Why aren't you sleeping then?"

"I can't sleep. We had an earthquake." She paused then wrote, "Why are you not sleep?"

"I have to get dressed for school." Tina was about to write back when her soulmate added, "My dad's coming, I have to go."

Simple as the interaction was, short as it was, Tina found herself waiting for the next time.

She had imagined it would be a regular thing. That they would write day after day, no matter how unimportant the topic. Because that's how she always heard things go with soulmates. Once you heard from them, they were all you craved. It was certainly true from her end of things.

She wrote her soulmate once a day. She got no response.

After three months, her hope was dwindling. Not enough that she stopped writing. Just enough that she no longer checked for a response.

One day, she went to write to her after school, and saw that her soulmate beat her to it.

"My dad left us."

Tina chewed her inner cheek as she read the line over and over and over again. She didn't know how to respond. She wanted to make her mate feel better because she surely she had to be said. If Tina's dad ever left her, she was sure she would go insane. But, she didn't understand the feeling.

"Sorry." At first it was all she could think of, but it didn't feel sincere. She wanted her soulmate to know she cared. "Are you okay?" Before writing, "Do you still have your mom?"

Her soulmate disregarded both questions, it seemed and asked her own.

"Do you believe in demons? Mama claims to see them."

It was a conversation that Tina never forgot.

It was the conversation that changed the tides.

She and her soulmate wrote back and forth every single day, at random points of the day. About anything and everything that came to mind.

Tina was open about her life.

She talked about miscellaneous information about herself, her birthday (January 1st), favorite school subject (math and science), her pet peeves. Typical twenty-one question things. She talked to her soulmate about her emotions. In fact, in that regard, her soulmate is the only person she is open with. She even tells her about the things she learns practicing witchcraft.

(They go back and forth about that a lot. Her soulmate doesn't believe in things they can't explain. Tina finds it frustrating, but she understands.)

Her soulmate isn't nearly as open, after the one conversation, the one that truly opened the door, trying to get her soulmate to open up was like trying to get a dog to spit something out of it's mouth.

Her soulmate answers the twenty-one question questions. Through that, Tina learns that her soulmate is a she. She learns that her soulmate has brown eyes. She learns that her soulmate has a sister, a younger one. (Tina asks a million questions about what that's like because she wishes she weren't an only child.) She learns that she was born September 3rd. She learned that her soulmate didn't have a favorite school subject; learns she doesn't care for school much at all.

Sometimes, her soulmate asks her about things that can't be explained. She asks in depth questions about witchcraft, about demons, if there are world's beyond this one. Tina tells her everything she knows about it. Offers up new information whenever she gets some.

Her soulmate still claims not to believe, but Tina doesn't believe her anymore.

One day, she checks her journal when she gets home from school. Her soulmate wrote her. It's the first thing truly personal she's written in years.

"They took Mama away. My sister and me are going to Foster care. I'll talk to you when I can."

They talked significantly less after that. Every few weeks or so. And, when they did talk, her soulmate never wanted to talk about herself. She's always focused solely on Tina. It makes Tina worry.

Then, after a while, her soulmate gets back to writing her daily again. Tina has a million questions about where she had gone, where she was living, if she and her sister were okay. Her soulmate deflects every last one.

Then again, one day. Her soulmate says something else equally concerning as the last time.

"They think Jenny is crazy like Mama. They're taking her away."

She provided no further explanation. And, she didn't write Tina back.

When Tina is sixteen, she masters a new skill. A spell that enables her to tap into other's consciousness, to play around in their heads and to sway their dreams and nightmares any way she sees fit. To do so, she needs to either be with a person or have something tangible of theirs.

She tries it on a few friends, makes sure she's as good at as she thinks she is, then does a mind sweep spell on them when she's finished. It works, and she's damned good at. Better than she initially thought.

She wants to try it on her soulmate.

She's not a hundred percent sure she can. She's never met her, and she technically doesn't have anything tangible that belongs to her.

Technically because Tina has a theory.

Their journals are supposed to be one in the same. And, the writing in it is as real as real gets. Tina thinks that maybe, their journal may be all she needs.

One night, September 3rd, she clutches her journal tight, does the spell incantation and thrusts herself into a dark space. She thinks of this diner her soulmate describe as her favorite place to go once. She thinks up her soulmate's favorite foods on a table at a window booth because she remembers where her soulmate said she likes to sit.

She waits. Because she's thought of these things, of this place, but she isn't sure it worked. She wasn't waiting a full five minutes before the bell above the diner door sounded, and she turned. In walked in a young black girl, who was the prettiest girl she had ever seen. Tina remained calm, got her breathing under control. The girl locked eyes with her and they narrowed with suspicion. Tina stood in her presence, at her attention, greeting her the way she always saw her father do her mother.

The girl stalked over, gave her the once over, "Who are you, and what is this?"

Tina pushes her glasses up from the brim of her nose, "I am your soulmate, " she passes her the journal, their shared journal. Her soulmate runs her fingers over the cover, gentle as if it will burst into ashes if she's anything but, "And, this is your birthday dinner celebration."

Her soulmate sits on the other side of the booth, though, Tina can feel her hesitation. Tina sits back down as her soulmate sits the journal in the middle of the table but close to the edge, out of the way.

For a while they stare at each other. Tina takes in her every feature. The curl of her lashes, the curl in her nose, the fullness of her lips, Tina's enamored by the shade of brown in her eyes, like little Hershey's milk chocolate kisses exist in her eyes. All her features compliment each other so nicely. Her skin is clear, smooth. Tina wonders if her skin is as soft as it looks. And, yeah, she notices her soulmate is sort of glaring at her right now, but it's an expression she wears so well.

"Your staring is creepy."

She stops staring at her lips and makes eye contact with her. She's unapologetic, "I'm merely admiring you beauty."

"Well, it's creepy." Neither of them say a thing for a beat, and her soulmate's eyes are darting back and forth between her and the food. "Is this safe to eat?"

"Everything you do with me is safe." Her soulmate just blinks at her. She eats some food she's never eaten before, looks back at her soulmate as she swallows, "You do trust me, don't you?"

Her soulmate eats, "I guess so." She stops eating after a few bites, looks back at Tina. She leans forward on the heels of her palm, still holding her fork. Tina stood eating and watched curiously, "By the way, this isn't going to one of those, we've finally met and now I'm going to fall in love with you things."

"Okay. "

She continues but is sitting back again, "Because the fact that we were born with the same journal and feathered pen is not going to dictate my love life."

"Okay. "

She goes back to eating, "In fact, I am seeing someone. So, there's that."

"I have a girlfriend. " Tina says. It's not the total truth. She's just been consistently making out with a girl in her bedroom for the last eight months.

Her soulmate frowns at that. "You do?" Tina nods, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't tell me."

"I barely tell you anything."

Tina shrugs, "Doesn't matter. We're not going to fall in love with each other anyway." But, Tina already loves her. She's nonchalant because she's good at that. She keeps eating.

"Right. We are just friends who are tied to each other."

"Just friends." Tina echoes. She doesn't want that to be the case, but if that's what her soulmate wants, she can accept it.

She stops eating again, "How did you do this?"

"Did you think I was joking about witchcraft all these years. " It wasn't much of a question, and it certainly didn't sound like one.

She huffs, " I believe that you believe in whatever witchcraft you claim to practice, but this can't be real."

"You can see me?"

"Yes."

"You can touch me? Everything here? "

"Yes."

"Why can't it be real?"

Her soulmate frowned, "Because how do I explain this without seeming crazy?"

"Why not keep this just between us?"

Her soulmate didn't answer that. "For the record, I don't celebrate my birthday."

After that, Tina didn't visit her soulmate's dreams anymore without permission. They still spoke daily. But, every few weeks or so, her soulmate would ask to see her. They'd meet up at the diner or, sometimes, her soulmate wanted to see something she loved.

In college, when Tina met Robert and they fell in love. She told her soulmate first. She didn't get a response.

In fact, after that, they talked less and less. Only informing each other of life milestones. Tina stopped visiting her dreams because, with the exception of birthdays and holidays, her soulmate stopped asking to see her.

Tina didn't tell her when Robert proposed.

Tina didn't tell her about the wedding.

Because she knew what her soulmate said, about them and being just friends. Yet and still, somehow, telling her she was marrying someone else felt like a violation of sorts. She told her about the marriage, after the fact. Just as a heads up. It felt like asking for forgiveness rather than permission.

Tina didn't tell her about the wedding, but her soulmate was the first person she told she was pregnant.

She wrote back a mere, "Congratulations." But nothing more.

Tina didn't expect to hear from her again, and she didn't. Until the second trimester was just about over and she wanted to know how everything was going.

They started talking daily again, and when Amy was born, she brought her to her soulmate in a dream. Her soulmate stared at Amy as if Amy was theirs. Tina wanted to make a comment about that, wanted to circle back to the whole, "we're not going to be together" thing she had said back in the day, and had firmly reiterated a few times over the years because if she changed her mind, Tina would change her life. But, if she learned anything about her soulmate over the years, it was that she was good at running away. Tina didn't want to give her any reason.

Tina kept her updated on everything going on in life from that point on. Every birthday, every holiday, every career achievement with Wizard, every rough patch she went through with Robert. When she got pregnant with Nico, it was like Amy all over again. Journal silence through the first (and most of the second) trimester followed by the need to know everything. Tina let her hold Nico; she tried not to fall in love with the way her soulmate cradled her close to her chest. Tried not to love the way Nico responded to her. But, she was already in love.

Years and years went by before Tina popped up in her soulmate's dream again.

Except this wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare, and it wasn't all in her head.

She sat on Amy's bed, Staff of One in hand, sobbing something raw and ugly and beyond her control. She had originally planned to tell her soulmate in writing what happened, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She hadn't even really planned on seeing her in the Dreamworld, the Staff had just summoned her on its own.

When the door opened to Amy's bedroom, she clutched the Staff, powering it up, in defensive mode. She relaxed significantly when she saw it was just her soulmate. Her shoulders slumped and her body continued to wrack with each sob that erupted from her.

Her soulmate kneeled in front of her, hands on her knees. They rested there only for a second before finding a new place on her cheeks. She pulled Tina's face upwards, just enough to look at her. She wiped her tears, but they continued to fall at such a rate that doing so was futile.

"What's going on? What's wrong?"

Tina tried to breathe, tried to calm down enough to say the words, but she couldn't do it. Her soulmate pulled her into a hug, and let her cry until she was physically incapable of doing it and her throat was raw. She pulled away, not completely but enough.

She was able to steady her breath this time, "I've failed as a mother."

She didn't try to reassure her; Tina appreciated that. "What do you mean?"

"Amy killed herself."

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it."

"I'm here for you, whatever you need."

Tina looked at her, "Just don't make me go through this alone."

Despite all the things they had never shared, Tina never met her soulmate. After all this time, Tina still didn't even know her name or where she live exactly. Tina figured out she lived in New York years ago because of time zones. But, beyond that, she knew nothing. And her soulmate didn't have that information about her, either.

By now, she had given up all hope that they would ever meet, that they would ever be anything more than what they were now. Which saddened her because — aside from her surviving daughter — she was alone, now.

She and Robert weren't soulmates.

They couldn't stomach the sight of each other. They reminded each other too much of what they lost. The love they once shared wasn't enough to withstand that. They filed for divorce not even a full year after Amy's funeral.

It was too much for Robert's heart because they buried him before the divorce could even be finalized. Literal broken heart.

Tina didn't think she would ever find love again, outside of her soulmate. She had been lucky enough to find Robert as is. She was prepared to be alone forever.

So, when she opened her journal one day and read, "Abigail Mills, Sleepy Hollow, NY. I need you."

She felt the air being sucked out her lungs and the air around her, and her heart just about exploded. Making the decision to move across the country was the easiest decision she had ever made.


	2. Rewind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Retelling of the Prologue, following Abbie Mills this time

Abigail Mills did not believe in soulmates.

She did in the sense that she knew they existed. Her mom and dad were soulmates; she had seen their matching journals. And, they were together, obviously. But, something about them was off. In moments when she found them when they thought she and Jenny were asleep, she couldn't see the love. The love that soulmates were supposed to share, it didn't seem to exist within her parents' relationship.

She couldn't help but believe the whole soulmate this was a crock of shit.

Very young in life, she decided, she wasn't going to write in her journal. Not ever. She would fall in love all on her own, and until then she had Jenny. And, her sister was all she needed.

It was an easy enough creed to to live by.

Until she was like seven, and her home turned into a warzone.

Gone were the days that she had to lurk into the shadows to see her parents' dysfunctional. Her parents didn't seem off anymore; they hated each other. Normal conversations no longer existed between them. Everything was a screaming match. The house was running out of dishes and vases, the way they were thrown around.

When shit hit the fan, she'd be frozen in shock until it was over. Then, she would clean up the mess they made. Jenny would run off and hide. She always took hours to find.

Abbie felt alone. It wasn't something she was used to feeling. She hated it.

She was getting ready for school one morning, and she wasn't sure what possessed her to do it. But, she found herself rummaging through everything she owned to find her journal. She found it buried deep in her closet. She had only ever seen the outside of it. Cool as it looked, none of the symbols made sense to her.

Her journal was so much different than her parents' journal.

Where their journal was a step up from what could be considered to be thin and made of cardboard, hers was thick. The pages seemed almost endless. Her journal was hard cover, almost felt as if it were made of metal. Her journal seemed unbreakable.

Before this moment, she had only ever seen her journal once. When her father was hiding it, after a fight he had with her mom, told her soulmates were the dumbest thing God placed on this Earth. She had never seen the inside. Her only intentions were to look inside, see what the pages were like.

She had been totally distracted by the fact that their was writing in it.

It was one word. Nothing special, but her breathing shallowed and her heart quickened.

Whoever her soulmate was had only written: "Hi."

But it was enough. Enough to make Abbie worry about what she should and shouldn't write back. Whether she should write back at all.

She pulled the feathered pen from the sound of the journal and settled for: "Hey."

It didn't feel like enough. She wanted to say more so she followed up with writing: "It's early."

Whoever owned the other journal was a fast writer: "It's late."

Abbie's eyebrows furrowed because, no. It really wasn't: "It's 5:15 in the morning."

"It's 2:15 at night."

Her heart didn't know whether to sink or soar. She didn't know where her soulmate was, but they were no where close. It didn't seem fair. Then she remembered her parents, remembered the fact that she didn't want to meet her soulmate anyway, so maybe that was a good thing. She told herself to close her journal.

Instead, she wrote back: "Why aren't you sleeping then?" She asked herself why she even cared. Still, she stared at the paper, anxious for her soulmate's response.

"I can't sleep. We had an earthquake."

California was the only place she could think of that had earthquakes. She wondered if that's where her soulmate was. Far enough away from her that they didn't ever have to meet. Abbie didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

"Why aren't you sleep?" Her soulmate asked.

She was ashamed of how quickly she wrote: "I'm getting ready for school." Then, she heard heave stomping coming down the hall. She scribbled: "I have to go. My dad's coming."

She hid the journal and popped out of the closet before he reached her bedroom.

It had been a fluke; Abbie decided.

She had broken her own rule, contacted her soulmate. She shouldn't do it again. Told herself that she wouldn't do it again. But she wanted to. Every night, when everyone else was asleep or when her parents where fighting downstairs, she would hide in her closet and pull out her journal.

Her soulmate wrote her every single day. Sometimes they would ask if she wanted to talk. Other times, they'd tell her about little things have happened that day, whether they were good, bad, funny or things that made them sad. Abbie was itching to write back, but she didn't want to cross that line again.

One day, she woke up one morning, and her dad — and everything she had known him to have ever owned — was gone. It was as if he never lived there at all, as if he were a ghost or a hallucination. Her mother was angry, wore a bitter expression but through that, held onto to Jenny as she wailed for Daddy to come back. She went up to her bedroom, and bawled her eyes out until she fell asleep.

She wanted to write her soulmate, but she refrained.

Over the course of the next two months, Abbie's life changed drastically.

There were more locks on the front and back entrances of her house than she could count. There were bars on every window. She wasn't allowed to have friends anymore; she couldn't ride the bus to or from school anymore.

Her mother rarely left the house anymore. And, she wasn't taking care of herself. She lived in a frenzied, panic like state. She rambled on and on about how she wasn't safe, about how they weren't safe. About demons, and how they were always trying to take them away from her.

Her paranoia had driven her to go as far as to draw up the town of Sleepy Hollow in shortcuts to necessary places to go: school, the grocery store and if they were lucky enough, they could go to church.

Jenny was terrified of her mom. She spent so much time taking care of Jenny that they didn't really feel like sisters anymore.

Abbie had never felt more alone in her life. So, she broke her rule. Unashamed, this time.

One night, she pulled her journal out, read over everything her soulmate had written her in the past three months and felt guilty.

She wrote: "My dad left us."

Because she needed someone to tell. Because she hadn't acknowledged his existence or what he done since she cried that day.

"Sorry." Then, there was a pause. She didn't know what to write. "Are you okay?" She so wasn't. "Do you still have your mom?" She didn't, not really.

She found herself asking a stupid question: "Do you believe in demons?" She didn't want to sound as crazy to her soulmate as her mom sounded to her, so she followed up with: "Mama claims to see them."

She wanted her soulmate to tell her that Mama was crazy. Demons weren't real. It was just make believe, all in someone's head.

Instead, she read: "She might." She blinked at the response, read it over and over. Her soulmate added: "It's bad if she does."

She slammed the journal shut. Didn't write back that night.

The next day, Abbie sat in her closet and wrote her soulmate. They didn't talk about anything important. For the first time, Abbie didn't feel as though she was living in the hellish nightmare that was her reality.

She thought, maybe this is what soulmates were for. Maybe having one wasn't the worst thing in the world.

So, Abbie wrote to her soulmate every day, and she didn't feel like it was a mistake anymore. Whatever came to mind is what they talked about.

Her soulmate was more of an open book than she was.

Her soulmate told her everything.

She learned that her soulmate was born on New Years. That her soulmate was a girl, and she never really considered that possibility before. Her soulmate was a nerd; she loved math and science. She learned her soulmate was an only child when she told her soulmate about Jenny, she said she was jealous, wished she had a sister of her own. She learned that her soulmate had an ever-growing list of things that pushed her buttons. She could never recount them all, without reading from the paper.

Her soulmate even told her personal things. Whenever she had bad days, she wrote all about them. She never spared any details. Whenever she was sad, the same could be said. Their wasn't an ounce of her life that she didn't share with Abbie, and Abbie loved that. Even if she couldn't say the same because she only told her soulmate the most basic things. The thing she appreciated the most was that she seemed content with that, like just talking to Abbie was enough.

Her soulmate tells her that she's a witch. And so is everyone else in her family. A part of Abbie believes her, part of her thinks she's crazy. The biggest part of her thinks that she herself is crazy for believing her. She tells how about cool things she learns in her lessons. It paled in comparison to other things in terms of details. She tells her what she does; she never explains how. Abbie is fine with that.

But Abbie is curious.

Sometimes she asks questions that it only makes sense for her soulmate to answer. She asks about angels, demons, all things supernatural. She ponders what happens when someone dies. She wonders if ghosts are real. Her soulmate is the only person who answers these questions like they are normal. When their conversation ends, Abbie insists it's all fiction, but she's mainly telling that to herself.

Abbie's life changes again. She can't tell if it's a good or a bad change.

She still doesn't know what happened to lead up to it, and the morning it's was a blur. One moment, she and Jenny were happy, making breakfast with her mom. The next her mother was irate and being dragged away by ordealies for Terrytown Psychiatric. Her and Jenny were taken away by her CPS.

When she was packing her things, she wrote in her journal: "They're taking Mama away. My sister and me are going to Foster Care. I'll talk to you when I can."

She doesn't have time to read a response if she got one. She didn't have time to pack. Her social worker promised her that she would do that, and that they'd have their things in no time.

Abbie was worried, but not too worried. Not about the journal, anyway. She wasn't sure if it was true, but she was told that if you lost it, it would find it's way back to you.

She had faith in that because she needed to see it again, needed to talk to her soulmate again.

Until then, she and Jenny clung to one another. At first, they were sent to a group home. The old couple who ran it were mean, negligent and abusive. Abbie missed her soulmate more than she ever imagined to be possible. She loved Jenny, and she knew she wasn't alone as long as she had Jenny. But, she couldn't lean on Jenny when she felt responsible for protecting her.

They didn't stay in the group home long. They were fostered by a younger couple, middle aged. They were abusive, too. But at least with them she and Jenny got regular meals. Abbie and Jenny broke every rule they had. Their foster parents sent them back.

Back at the group home, Abbie learned they were right, the journal found its way back to her. She went back to the ritual of writing her soulmate daily, not letting her in on anything real. Her soulmate was her escape, not her therapy session.

They got fostered again, and they expected every home to be as bad as the first one (and they were), so they created a cycle. Move in, sabotage, go back, repeat.

Until one day, they were fostered by a truly kind, nice couple. Every foster kid's dream. But they were so deep into the cycle, they didn't fully appreciate it, but they learned the art of being discreet. Because their current lifestyle enabled them to have fun, but giving up their new home was not an optional.

She and Jenny stole some beers from the neighbors next door to her old house. They went into the woods to drink, and she doesn't remember anything after getting there.

She and Jenny see four white trees, and this creature. Tall, white as the trees she's looking at, with horns and no facial features as far as she can see. Jenny sees it too; they pass out, and when they wake up — four days later to a search party — the man who finds them sees it, too. She tells Jenny not to say a word when they're found; Jenny sings like a canary.

The next real thing she writes to her soulmate is something she tried her hardest (though, some could say, not hard enough) to prevent: "They think Jenny is crazy like Mama. They're taking her away."

She ignored all of her soulmate's questions.

When she was fifteen, she met her soulmate for the very first time.

Except, it wasn't actually real.

Abbie didn't dream. Not often, no unless there was some underlying meaning to be deciphered (which she promptly ignored). Her soulmate changed that, though.

It was her fifteenth birthday. She did nothing to celebrate, except break into a few stores for the hell of it. Being a thief, a good one, was exhausting. When she got back home to her foster parents, she was in dire need of a good sleep.

Most of rest sessions were filled with a void, a dark nothingness. Tonight was no exception, at first.

Then, there was light, not a whole lot of it. It was distant, from this distance there was one clear streak of it. Darkness surrounded every other area. Against her better judgement, Abbie allowed the light to draw her in. The closer she got to it, the detail she could see. There was a door. The light was only peering out from it's cracks.

She remembered everything she heard from her mom about demons, she thought about the one she saw. A big part of her felt like she shouldn't go towards the door, that she should ignore whatever was on the other side. But, the light was warm. It made no sense at all, but the light felt safe, like a much needed hug. When she opened the door, the light was blinding. Still, she stepped inside.

It wasn't what she thought.

She thought was going to be something sinister, something scary. Instead, the door had taken her straight to her favorite diner. And, it was empty except, this one booth, near the window. In the booth sat this girl with long, black hair. She couldn't tell until she turned around but she was Asian and she wore glasses.

Abbie had never seen her before and she should have run. Instead she walked towards the girl, who stood up, held something in her hands. Something black and familiar, and the only thing that crossed Abbie's mind was, _**No Way**_.

"Who are you, and what is this?" She had an idea of who she was, but she had to ask anyway. The girl put the journal in her hands, confirming her suspicions. Abbie couldn't believe it. She tells Abbie that they were soulmates, and that she came to celebrate her birthday with her.

Abbie was shocked she remembered. She herself hadn't celebrated in years, and she told her soulmate about it once, when they were children and never mentioned it again.

Abbie sat on the other side of the booth and the girl sat down only after she did. Abbie sat the journal down, out way but within reach if she decided she wanted to see it. The table had all her favorite foods, some of them, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen them. She looked back and forth between the food and her soulmate.

Only to find her soulmate staring at her intently. Her eyes filled with adoration that Abbie didn't feel deserving of, not with the life she led; certainly not after what she had done to her sister. Her heart thudded, and she chastised herself for it. She wasn't going to allow herself to feel things for her soulmate. Not like that.

"Your staring is creepy."

Her eyes refocused and made contact with Abbie's, " I was merely admiring your beauty."

Abbie's heart thudded again, and her stomach flipped. She felt warm inside, happy. That sentence meant everything, and she spoken it like she meant it. Abbie was beginning to understand all the fairytale things she heard about soulmates. Maybe her view of them was inaccurate, she thought. Her parents had been such horrid examples for everything else, why should they still be her standard for love? But, she couldn't think like that. She didn't want to fall in love, and she didn't deserve this kind of devotion.

"Well, it's creepy." She looked back at the food, then at her soulmate. "Is this safe to eat?"

"Everything you do with me is safe. " Abbie couldn't remember the last time something had sounded so true to her, if ever. She believed her. She didn't need any reassurance beyond that statement. Then, her soulmate ate some for herself, chewed then swallowed, "You trust me, right?"

Abbie would never say so, but even before, whatever this was, she had more faith in their bond than anything else in the world. She shrugged, takes a bite of a piece of pie, "I guess so." It's better than she remembers.

She never heard anyone say they shared an experience like this with their soulmate before they met them. She doesn't know if it's real or not. If she's hallucinating or if her soulmate is really in front of her. Her mind tells her that is had to be fake. No other part of her agrees. It must have take an considerable amount of effort to do this, to come see her, however she had managed to do it. No one had ever tried that hard for her before. Inwardly, she swooned, but she stopped herself. This couldn't continue.

"This isn't going to be one of those we've met and now I'm going to fall in love you things. "

(A part of Abbie already is, but she sleeps better pretending she's not.)

"Okay." She doesn't sound like she believes her. Abbie doesn't believe her damn self.

"Because the fact that we were born with the same journal and feathered pen is not going to dictate my love life. " Abbie wonders if her soulmate can tell that Abbie is talking to herself.

Her response is annoying, "Okay."

So, Abbie lies, "In fact, I'm seeing someone so there's that."

She was about to eat again when she heard, " I have a girlfriend. "

It isn't a statement that should make her feel like throwing up, but it is. Shouldn't make her want this girl to disappear, but she does want this mystery girl to disappear. Doesn't want her within fifty feet of her soulmate and, _**Dear God, pull yourself together, Abbie**_.

"You do?" She wonders if she looks and sounds as green as she feels on the inside. Her soulmate just nods. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't tell me."

Abbie wanted to roll her eyes, "I barely tell you anything."

Her soulmate shrugs, "Doesn't matter. We're not going to fall in love with each other anyway. "

Something inside Abbie tears, but she doesn't show it. Because that was her own idea. So she goes with it, says that their just friends and wants to cry a little when her soulmate echoes that too easily.

She changes the subject, "How did you do this?"

"Did you not believe me when I said I practiced witchcraft all these years?"

Abbie can't tell if it's a rhetorical question or not. "I believe you believe you do, but this can't be real. "

She just raises an eyebrow, " You can see me?" Obviously, and Abbie didn't deny that. "You can touch me, and everything here?" Abbie doesn't deny that either. "Why can't it be real?"

_**Because that makes me crazy. No, worse than that Because if this is possible it means Mama wasn't crazy. If this is possible, it means Jenny and I actually saw what I thought we saw.** _

"Because how do I explain this without sounding crazy?"

"Why not keep this just between us?"

Abbie does.

Abbie pretends to find her soulmate making random trips to her dreams be unnerving. It's not; it's endearing. It's the only time Abbie feels any sense of peace. She also feels herself falling deeper in love with each visit. So, Abbie tells her to stop.

Not seeing her at all, now, hurts. So, every few weeks, she writes: "Can I see you tonight?" And, her soulmate never lets her down. Always takes her to a place she loves or would love to visit, but her soulmates pays attention, remembers little things. Abbie wants to know more about her, too. So, sometimes, she requests somewhere special to her.

It doesn't do much to help her not fall in love, but Abbie thinks of it as a worthy sacrifice.

Her soulmate goes to college while she joins the police academy. During training she meets a guy, Danny, and he likes her. And, he's attractive, but she feels dirty for even paying him any attention. Like she's cheating or something, and she hates that. Keeps her distance.

One day, she opens her journal and reads, "I met a guy named Robert. We've been dating for a while. He's handsome, quiet and kind. He makes me feel comfortable and safe, and he makes me laugh out loud. I think I love him?"

She doesn't know who Robert is but she kind of wants him to walk off the face of the Earth. She doesn't write back. When she goes back to the academy, she fucks Danny in a locker room. Let's herself like him after that.

Weeks go by before she writes her soulmate back. She's done with the academy, she's an officer now. She can't think of anyone else to tell. Her soulmate gets excited for as if the achievement were her own. Writes a letter, tells her she's proud. It makes Abbie love her all over again. Then she remembers Robert exists, and doesn't write back.

She only writes her soulmate when something exciting happens. Or on her birthday. Or on holidays, and vice versa. She misses the daily conversations, but she can't take them.

One day, she opens her journal to reminisce and sees something new: "I married Robert last month."

Abbie throws her journal across the room, wakes up Danny in the process and ignored his concerns. It's wrong for her to be mad, she knows. It's her own fault things went that far. Doesn't make her hate it any less, and she hates herself for that "We're just friends" bullshit.

The journal stays on the floor where it landed for almost five months.

One day she's feigning for it. She picks it up and sees a new entry: "I'm pregnant."

She's never kissed her soulmate. But the thought of someone else doing it makes her feel ill. The thought of someone putting a baby in her, makes her want to shoot something. But, this is too big to ignore. And, she'd mentioned wanting to be a mother in the past, in that respect, Abbie is happy for her. She bends down, picks up the feathered pen off the floor and writes: "Congratulations."

She doesn't talk to her for almost seven months. But, her soulmate and her baby has been on her mind heavy, and she can't help herself. So, she writes, asks about her health. She's relieved to hear the pregnancy is going smooth and easy. Her soulmate is having a girl. Abbie feels like she's missed too much. She doesn't want to miss anything else so she goes back to writing her every day.

Four months later, she sees her soulmate again for the first time in only God knows when because Abbie can't remember. She has her baby girl with her, tells her that she's named her Amy.

(Abbie thinks it's funny that she knows her daughter's name and not hers.)

Amy is tiny and perfect. She wants to hold her, but she looks so fragile and Abbie is scared she'll do something wrong. So, she just marvels over the little girl, and wishes she was theirs. She wishes now more than she had never said that they couldn't be together. But, it's too late, now. Her soulmate's life is too good. Abbie hopes that eventually she's okay with her not being anything more than just a friend.

Abbie doesn't want to miss a moment of Amy's life. So, no matter how much it hurts, she doesn't let them lose contact. Like always, her soulmate matches her efforts. She makes sure Abbie doesn't miss a thing.

One day, her soulmate writes: "I founded a tech company with my husband. It's mostly mine, though."

Abbie smiles, and doesn't want to vomit at the idea of Robert for the first time since he came into the picture. She takes it as progress.

She was going to write back when a commercial for a Wizard Laptop came on tv, and she saw her soulmate for the first time since Amy was a baby. She learns her name is Tina Minoru. It fits, she thinks. She considers teasing her, but she doesn't mention it. She just congratulates Tina and goes on about her day.

She has a love/hate relationship with the fact that she was right about how wonderful Tina's life was going without her in it.

Tina is going through something terrible with Robert. It's the first time she tells her anything in a long time and spares the details. She just vents, and Abbie takes it all in. Supports her through it whilst silently hoping they don't make it through whatever this is. She wonders if that makes her bad person. Their rough patch seems to go on for months, and whiles she's empathetic, it brings her joy. She feels sick for it.

Then, for the first time ever, Tina gives her journal silence. She writes her every day with no response. Her heart feels hollow in her chest. She obsessed over when Tina might right her back, takes her journal everywhere she goes, checks it at hour intervals.

This lasts for two months before she receives a response: "I'm pregnant."

Abbie didn't respond this time. She's happy for her but the happiness is battling disappointment. Disappointment wins; she hates that the fact that Tina not getting divorce feels like betrayal.

It takes Abbie almost seven months to write her back. Same reason as the last time, she had to know she and the baby are well. And, they are. Tina doesn't let Abbie miss a thing after.

Tina brings her the baby again in her dreams. She thinks about telling Tina she knows her name, but she continues to pretend she doesn't because she's not ready for Tina to know hers.

This baby, Nico, looks like Tina to her. Abbie is braver this time around, holds her in her arms. Nico curls into her, reflexively, like she's meant to be in her arms. Abbie thinks she is. Nico is so far beyond perfect. With Nico in her arms, Abbie forgets Tina is even there.

Years go by.

Abbie has coped with the differences in their lives much better than she has in the past. She even grows a bit of respect and appreciation for her soulmate's husband through the years.

Then, one day, while she's preparing to go home from work, she passes out in the locker room. She wakes up in a kitchen she has never seen before inside a nicer house than she had ever imagined. She can't remember how she got here, no matter how hard she tries to think about it. She's not even in uniform, so she doesn't have her weapon, and that scares her.

She roams the house, looks around for anything familiar. She notices a series of family pictures on a mantel. In the pictures, Tina, Amy and Nico, and a man who's face she's never seen who must be Robert. Tina was right; he is handsome.

Abbie rolls her eyes at that and wanders around the house, taking in how luxurious it is. When she finds her way upstairs, she hears the loudest, most heart wrenching crying she's ever heard in all her years and follows it to a closed bedroom.

She pushes it open, finds her soulmate inside, holding this weird stick thing with a circle on top in her hands. She looks like a shell of a person and every other time Abbie had seen her, she was a pillar of confidence and strength.

Tina sits up straight, as if going on the defense, clutches the stick tightly and this circle part lights up. Then, she sees her and Abbie watches her body slump and the stick dies back down. Abbie moves towards her and kneels before her. She wipes her tears, tries to but they just keep coming. She tries to get Tina to talk, but it's an impossible task. So, she hugs her close until her body stops shaking and her tears subside.

When she finally speaks, her voice is so raw Abbie is sure it hurts to say anything. "I've failed as a mother."

Abbie couldn't imagine a world where that were true. "What do you mean?"

Tina looked at her, eyes red and swollen, "Amy killed herself."

Abbie's ears start to ring. She has flashbacks to her mother, then refocuses back to the situation at hand. It didn't click. Amy seemed like such a happy kid. There was no way she heard that right. Imagines of Amy as a baby flashes through her brain, and it just didn't click.

"What?"

Tina snapped, "Don't make me repeat myself."

Whatever Abbie felt, Tina felt on a thousand. "Whatever you need, I'm here for you."

"Just don't make me go through this alone. "

After that, Abbie saw Tina every night. They didn't talk. They just sat together in various places around the world, and Abbie held Tina her arms. She wasn't used to touching her, made her skin burn in a pleasant way. Made her feel closer to Tina than every before. The journal seemed arbitrary for them, for a while.

Then, Tina stopped visiting her, and they went back to writing. Not every day but every other day, and Tina wasn't nearly as personal or descriptive anymore.

Abbie didn't want to push her, so Abbie moved forward with her life as best as she could.

And, she was getting tired of Sleepy Hollow. She got her shot at the FBI, and she decided to take it despite how much her mentor, Sheriff Corbin tried to talk her out of it. She was going through the process. She needed to spread her wings.

Then, the unthinkable happened. Happened way too fast. Something that should have been impossible, something that made people look at her as if she were insane when she tried to explain.

A headless man on a horse killed her mentor. It was so real, no matter much it felt like something she was supposed to be seeing a graphic novel. It was real, and it happened. She couldn't go through this alone.

She could only think of one person who wouldn't think she was crazy. She spent her life saying she wasn't going to meet her. She didn't know what was going on in her life anymore, and she didn't want to disrupt it.

She needed Tina Minoru.

So, the night after the beheading, she wrote in her journal: _**Abigail Mills, Sleepy Hollow, NY. I need you**_. 


	3. Pilot, reimagined

Finding a nice house for sale in Sleepy Hollow wasn't nearly as difficult as Tina imagined it was going to be.

It had only taken her a day.

It wasn't what Tina would have preferred to live in, wasn't as technologically advanced as she liked. But, she supposed that was fixable. And, nothing in Sleepy Hollow was that technologically advanced, from what she had read.

But, that's where Abbie was, and Abbie needed her. And, she needed Abbie so Sleepy Hollow was were she needed to be. Living in the dark ages was a sacrifice she was willing to make for this to happen because she had waited for this all her life.

Beyond that, Sleepy Hollow was a fresh start.

This house reeked of Amy and Robert which triggered heartbreaking memory after heartbreaking memory. She hated being home, and Nico rarely came out of her room. They both needed a change of scenery. She wasn't sure how she expected Nico to react to the news that they were moving, but she didn't, react that is. Nico verbally voiced neither approval or disapproval. She just removed herself from the kitchen table and stomped off to her bedroom. Fifteen minutes later, she came back downstairs and informed her she was packed. Then, she and Nico spent the next hour, using magic to pack up the rest of the house.

So, now, Tina was driving across the country to her new home.

Captain Irving claimed they had a guy, said he looked good for her partner's murder.

Abbie seriously doubted that. Unless the guy was dressed like an old, British soldier and was, you know, headless, there was no way they had the right guy. Not that anyone was listening to that story. No one wanted to hear that story for the same reason she hated telling it: it made no fucking sense. Even so, Abbie knew what she saw. People thought she was crazy, same way they thought her mother was crazy, same way they thought her sister was crazy. It didn't change the facts, didn't change what she saw, didn't change the truth. She knew what he was still out there, and it was only a matter of time before another beheading took place.

Still, Captain Irving and her fellow officers insisted she have a look so she indulged them. Walked into the cell where their suspect was being detained.

The guy had a head, that was all she needed to know. She sighed, rubbed her neck and looked at Officer Brooks, "That's not him."

"What? You sure."

She gave a tight lipped grimace, had yet to let go of her neck and nodded, "Positive."

He gave a sympathetic look, "I know this hard for you, Abbie, but please, take a closer look."

Her hand dropped to her side and she shook her head, "The man I saw was in an old military uniform," she looked up toward the light, "like a red coat," she hadn't noticed the intrigue in their suspect's face. Far as she was concerned, he was the least important person in the room. "He had something on his hand, I don't know like a branding. "

"Did he carry a broadax?"

" What?" Brooks asked.

He stayed focused on Abbie, "The mark on his hand, was it of a bow?"

Just like that, he went from the least important factor to the only factor.

She stepped closer to the cell, "How do you know that?" The man retracted within his own self, muttering and whispering to himself, expressing his own incredulous feelings towards the situation. But, Abbie didn't care about his feelings. Someone — this stranger — might have seen the same thing she saw which meant she wasn't crazy, "Hey. Who is he? When's the last time you saw him?"

The man looked up at her, "When I cut off his head."

Abbie's breathing hitched. "Who are you?"

Abbie believed every word he said.

Of course, she was the only one.

It was under Captain Irving's instructions that he be polygrapghed. So, here they were, watching him protest as they strapped him up to a machine he seemed to not understand. Irving thought he was out of his mind. Abbie wanted more than anything for that to be true. That would mean Sheriff Corbin died a regular death. It would mean, she didn't see a headless bastard on a white horse. But, she did see that, and nothing about the way she lost her mentor was normal. She didn't have the luxury of thinking he was nuts.

So, she watched his polygraph test session.

Ichabod Crane — as it turns out his name is — wholeheartedly believes he was a solider, a spy, in the revolutionary war. He talks like it, dresses like it. He's confused by everything modern. He also believes that when he was killed, he was placed in a cave of sorts, claims not to remember anything from now and then. He certainly smells like that's true. It isn't the most outlandish thing Abbie has ever experienced. That tidbit is more unsettling than his story. Doesn't help that not a single lie was detected in his polygraph. She believes him, and once again, she's the only one.

Irving orders him to be taken to a psychiatric facility. Abbie knows that it won't do any good.

She needs Tina here. She knows she would not only understand, but she was certain she could help with whatever this was.

It was a difficult task, but Abbie managed to score the job of being his escort. She tried, initially to keep him out of the hospital, but Irving was a stubborn man. It took some bullshit emotional plea about needing closure for her to even land the escort job. Not that had an intentions of doing such a job. No. The only person who could confirm the existence of this creature was in her custody. She needed answers, and she was going to get them, by any means necessary. If that meant riding around with a man who used outdated vocabulary and mistook her for a slave then so be it.

Tina didn't care to use magic when the need wasn't dire. It was lazy, and she was anything but. Be that as it may, every rule had it's exceptions. Now would be Tina's exception (and when was packing the house, but it really falls under the same umbrella). From California to New York was a two day trip. Thank the Heavens for back roads and magic. She made it in quarter of that time.

Lazy as it was, she had no time for road trips. She was needed, and she was antsy. She had assumed that her nerves would calm down when she saw the Welcome to Sleepy Hollow sign. She couldn't have been more wrong. Her heart raced and something felt gravely sour about this town. She couldn't explain it, but she got the feeling that maybe her soulmate wasn't the only reason she was needed here. It wasn't just her, either. The Staff of One lit up in the back seat, without her say so, and that was never a great sign.

"Is it just me," Nico's voice cut into her thoughts, "Or, does this town have a super weird vibe?"

Tina hummed, "It certainly has a rather, " she searched for a word that felt right, "grotesque aura. Though, it does have a history. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it."

Ichabod is showing her the caves, talking gibberish that she doesn't understand. He's rambling about a Bible he was buried with, the book of Revelations, specifically. He's saying nothing that seems to give her what she needs. He thinks he's being helpful, talking about otherworldly forces at play here. Abbie cannot deal with this. Not now, not ever. She almost feels guilty about lashing out at him. But, she doesn't.

She saved him from the psych ward for one reason, and one reason only. Only for him, whatever he thought this was, whoever he thought he was, to be a complete bust. She felt like yelling into thin arm or punching bricks.

She stomped off to the car instead, leaving Crane to gather his jaw up from the ground. His long legs help him catch up with her, though, she's taken off way ahead of him. He's trying to be reassuring. Instead, Abbie wants to punch him in the throat. She's so emotional that the only thing stopping her is a dramatic height difference. She gets a call to her walkie, alerting her, and every other officer of the one thing she feared most right now: another beheading. The victim this time was the town priest.

When they pulled up to the crime scene, she gave Crane a pointed look, "I need you to stay in the car."

She gets out, meets Captain Irving. She's being brought up to speed. She wants to tell him about Crane so that he isn't blindsided by the fact that she had deliberately disobeyed him. She can't because he keeps cutting her off, and he won't shut up. She tries again, just when it seems as though he will finally listen. He looks past her for a split second and his eyes darken before he fixates his angry gaze back onto her.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

Abbie looks over at Crane, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Captain. Crane has been in my custody all day so he couldn't be behind the killings. "

It goes in one ear and swiftly out of the other. He disregards her, again. Threatens her job, this time. Threatens her freedom, too. Implies that she's just as much of a lunatic as he thinks Crane is, and something snaps within her. She's taking Crane to an asylum, no matter what it means for her investigation. She stalks over to Crane, snaps at him, again, because he's wayward child, but mostly because nothing seems to be working in her favor.

He responds by saying, "Yet, as you know, I'm insane and therefore impervious to simple commands."

Then, he kneels before a grave, removes dead vines from it's headstone.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"The bird led me here." His answer is so simply, like it suffices. As if it makes a lick of sense.

She scoffs, "A bird led you here?" Maybe he is a damn nut, "That's great."

He murmurs the name of a woman who was burnt for witchcraft, Katrina, Abbie sees. Crane claims it's his wife. And, he looks utterly crestfallen, so much so that there's no way he could be lying. Can't fake that level of emotion.

"Crane?"

He turns and stands, "What more do you need to believe me?" He approaches her.

"You want me to say that the killer is the First Horseman of the Apocalypse and my proof is an old Bible that we found in a cave?"

He frowns deep, the expression riddled with perplexity, "You witnessed your partner's murder with you own eyes. Why are working so hard to deny it?"

Because I don't want it to be real, is what she wanted to say. "Because I do not have the luxury of giving you the benefit of the doubt right now!" And, that's it. She's going to Quantico, and she's never looking back. Sleepy Hollow can go to hell for all she cares. "I'm a week from leaving, that man can destroy my career, and you're not helping so let's go."

Crane staggers back. Tells her she can't leave. Tells her that their fates are intertwined, no matter how hard she tries to run from it. She knows he's right, on some level. But, she had a hard enough time accepting her soulmate, and she had a lifetime to warm up to her. Now, she was tied to this guy, too? Bullshit. She wondered why the universe hated her so much.

She finds herself having a bad case of a run off at the mouth, "And even if I thought what I saw was possible, I will be alone again, arguing a case I do not understand based on something that I cannot explain."

She makes an attempt to drag him away, but he doesn't budge, and her grip on his elbow wasn't concrete to begin with, and her hand slides right off him.

"What do you mean again?"

Abbie thinks for a moment, everything would be simpler if she just shot herself. Then, she really wouldn't have to deal with any of this. More than anything, she wants him to stop talking. But, she's spent the day with him, and not talking seems to be one of many things he doesn't seem to be capable of.

"Something happened to you, didn't it?" She can't tell if he expects an answer from her or not, but either way, he isn't getting one. She wishes she hadn't said anything. "Something before all of this." He studies her for a second, and then he goes on, continues prying, "Something that has made you doubt your perceptions for quite sometime."

And, yes. That's true, and it isn't just one thing. The demon in the woods, and her relationship with Tina. She doubts everything.

"Hey, I don't need to be psychoanalyzed, or whatever your version is, by a man who thinks that only yesterday he was fighting for George Washington in the Revolutionary War. I'm sorry, but I need more, and we both need sleep."

She walks away this time, lets him follow because this conversation is so over.

Tina pulls up to their new home. Larger than her last by far. It was archaic, even by looking at the outside, she could tell. Large brick house that hadn't been well maintained for the outside. From the looks of it, Nico seemed to share her opinion. Her face scrunched up with repugnance.

Tina yawned, her body felt stiff and achy. She wanted nothing more than to rest. She also didn't want to wake up tomorrow to have to come outside and look at this. She reached back for the Staff, languidly and it flew into her palm, only had a short distanced to go. She got out, pointed the Staff at house and lawn, conquered up an image of it looking clean with perfectly cut grass before activating the Staff, smirking with satisfaction at the improvement.

Nico got out once the house looked better so she could unload the van. Her mom had found the key and got the door open as she grabbed hold of the first block. She wished they didn't have to do this manually, but Nico knows they've manipulated enough things today. Nico knows the thing her mom just did with the house was a big deal; no way the neighbors wouldn't notice. Nico knows her mom isn't likely to use magic anymore which meant she can't either.

The inner decor was... obsolete, at best. Tina didn't like it at all. The first thing on her to do list for her new place — even before installing Wizey — was to buy new furniture. She could feel Nico come in, and even if she hadn't, the sound of a box dropping to the floor was alert enough.

Nico looks around the house, "Grandma would love this place." She's so right, and Tina thinks it's a true testament to how ugly this place really is. Her mother had the worst taste. "So, I know you hate it."

"It's ugly."

Then, there was low yet distinct grumbling. Tina couldn't tell if it was her own stomach or Nico's.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

Tina nodded, "As am I." She reached out for the Staff that she'd sat down in another room, waited for it to fly to her. "Come, let's see if this ancient place has anywhere good to eat."

She's rarely ever had to personally take someone to an insane asylum. The few times she had, the guilt of doing so ate her up. Made her think about how her mother couldn't survive it. Makes her think about how every time Jenny gets out, she seems to do worse. She knows being in a place like this can break spirits, even the strongest of them.

So, she does feel shitty for bring Ichabod here. But, she tells herself that she doesn't have a choice in the matter, and it makes her feel better. Still, she finds herself wanting to make him feel better.

"I got you your own cell," He turns to acknowledge her for the first time since he's walked in. His general facial expression is unreadable but she can see the sadness in his eyes. "It's the best I could do."

He nods, there's a twinge of gratitude in the notion, but he still doesn't believe he should be here, "It's a measurable step up from a cave."

She still feels obligated to reassure him. Crazy or not, he can't control what's happening any more than she can, "Look, I don't know how to get my head around any of this, but I do get that no matter what happened to you, this must all be scary."

"Perhaps an asylum is exactly where I belong." He muses.

She wasn't sure why but she felt the compulsion to tell him about what happened to her. In the woods with Jenny. Not everything. Just about what they saw. How no one believed it, not even herself. How Jenny went off the deep end believing. How she's been in and out of places like this ever since. She doesn't tell him it makes her feel guilty. She does tell him, however, that she understands what it's like have everyone think you're crazy because they don't understand. And, she tells herself she's told him all this to make him feel better. On some level that's true.

A nurse tells her it's lights out. She nods, turns back to Crane.

"I suppose this is farewell, Lieutenant."

"You can call me Abbie."

He nods, she turns to leave, his voice holds her in place, "I'm very sorry about your partner."

She wants to cry because this is the first time anyone aside from herself has seemed genuinely sorry about Corbin. Any other condolences she received felt like bullshit formality. She holds back the tears as best as she can, wordlessly accepts his words and leaves while she still has control over her tears.

As she's looking for a place for them to eat, Tina sees the outside of the diner she's visited many times in her dreams before with Abigail. She doesn't bother to ask Nico if she's okay eating there, she just parks across the street from it. Nico's too hungry to protest or question it. Lucky for Tina because she's not in the mood to argue. She needs to write Abigail, let her know she's here. She doesn't get out of the car until she knows for sure her staff and journal are inside, and they are. Nico doesn't get out until she gets out.

There were many factors that Tina missed when conjuring up this Dreamworld.

The smell for one, like grease, mostly with a hint of various pie scents molded into one thing. It was an interesting mix. Somehow it wasn't as unpleasant as one would imagine. She wants to sit in the window booth, where she always sat with Abigail, but it's occupied, and Nico is already making her way to a back corner booth where the lighting is dim because she's that kind of person.

Tina slides into the booth across from her daughter, who is already reading the menu. She pulls out her journal and writes: "I'm here. Where are you?"

She doesn't expect a quick response but Abigail has written back before she could even think to close her journal: "Police station. In the Sheriff's office. Need you ASAP."

Tina sees a waitress coming, "Nico, we're ordering to go."

"What? We can't eat here?"

"Urgent matters, Nico."

Nico tries to read her mom for any giveaways, but comes up short. Her mother is a master of stoicism, she only got better at it after Amy. You'd give yourself an aneurysm trying to read her emotions looking from the outside. Nico, for a second, contemplates getting inside her head. Because come to think of it, Nico doesn't know why they even moved. Much less to this dead town. Nico isn't powerful enough, though, to get in her mom's head the way she can with Alex and Gert. Not to stay there long enough to figure anything out; Tina would throw her out so fast, and she'd be in the deepest shit. She lets it go, for now. Decides she'll ask questions in the car or something.

Tina allows Nico to order for them both, and Tina requests an entire apple pie. It's more for Abigail than it is for herself and Nico. She doesn't know what's going on, why her soulmate needs her so desperately but she remembers how much Abbie loves it and thinks it will be a nice gesture.

Patience is a virtue that Tina mastered a long time. It's a virtue she doesn't seem to possess right now because time is of the essence, and like she told Nico, urgent matters. She ignores the look she gets from her daughter when she speeds time a smidge. Because it's only a few minutes. And, the waitress is back at there table, smiling with everything she asked for.

When they're within the confinement and safety of their own car, Tina turns to her daughter after she grabs the Staff of One.

"Nico," she reaches out with her free hand, palm up. "Hold my hand."

The last thing she wants to do, is something as mushy as hold hands with her mom. "What? No. Why?"

"Because, if you don't you'll be left in this car by yourself, and I have the keys."

"You can't just drive?"

She looked down at her journal, "I don't have time."

Nico also looked down at the journal, connecting some dots. She took her mom's hand, clutched the brown paper bag that housed the food, and waited.

It didn't seem that Abbie was going to get answers from Crane. And, she wasn't going to stay in Sleepy Hollow. That's what she kept telling herself, at least. But, Crane's words kept swirling around her head. Everything from the Bible in the cave to what he had said about their fates. He wasn't going to give her answers, but maybe Corbin could. He was always a secretive man with a wisdom that transcended beyond anything she knew or believed. Maybe she could gain a better understanding of what was going on.

That's what led her in his office, digging through all of his belongings, reading old case files and listening to recordings.

("There were 100 witches who were put to death in Sleepy Hollow between 1712 and 1816.

Town records suggest members of two different covens integrated into the populace and changed their names to stay hidden," the recording reveals.)

Her heart twists. Both at the emotion that comes with hearing his voice again, and the knowledge of knowing that he knew something strange was brewing in town, and kept that information to himself. Especially given his knowledge of her past, and faith in her.

She listens to small connections he's made about witches, upon and down the east coast. Makes her think of Tina, wonders what she'd make of it all.

A strange, spotty light source that hadn't been there before makes her look up. She blinks, slowly. Then, rapid. Then, she wipes her eyes. Given the fact that a literal second ago, she was sitting her, all by her lonesome, and was now faced with Tina Minoru, and another girl, much younger that she feels like she should know, but can't place just yet staring back at her, is a bit much for her sense.

Somewhere deep down, Abbie wants to hug her. But, Tina wears such a phlegmatic expression that somehow Abbie feels she'd be crossing a line. Nevermind the fact that they've known each other their whole lives.

She refocuses on the younger of the pair, who is cloaked in darkness. Looks like what Abbie imagines the Grim Reaper's daughter would look like. But, there's still beauty there; the look suits her. When Abbie really zeroes in on her face, she sees past the make up. She sees family portraits then she sees a baby. A baby that was beyond perfect. A baby that snuggled up to her chest like it was where she belonged most: Nico. Nico, who was all grown up and so different.

Nico, who was mirroring her expression.

Nico had never seen this woman before. Not that she could remember. Yet and still, for some reason, she felt attached. She made a mental circle back to her mom's journal; how even back in LA, back before her life changed, the only thing that was as important to her as that journal was Amy and herself; circled back to her mother's urgency, the abrupt move. Two plus two had always equalled four. And, now, she knew who her mom's soulmate was.

Abbie wanted to say something, but then, the tape clicked. There was another click, and a new audio played. This one more unsettling than the first:

("Case file 632, Abigail and Jennifer Mills, sisters who describe seeing a demon-like figure linked to four white trees that appeared out of nowhere.

This correlates with a local farmer in 1882 who claimed to see the same thing in the exact same location.

He believed the trees were symbols representing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and that the Demon was sent here to raise them.

I don't know what to believe.

I want to tell Abbie what I found.

I just-just don't know how.

I look around this town, I don't know who to trust anymore.

She doesn't know how to feel, what to feel. Whatever she's feeling is overwhelming enough, without Tina and Nico giving her wordless intense stares.

Tina isn't sure what part of this is sticking out to her the most. But, this whole thing feels like a gigantic red flag. Flashbacks to Abbie's young intrigue with demons to hearing some man speak of evidence of the presence of The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. This whole moment feels full circle, and she can't say she's fond of the fact.

Nico doesn't take her eyes off Abbie but cranes her neck closer to her mother, "Mom, what's going on?"

"I'm not exactly sure." She gives Abbie a more pointed look. "Maybe Abigail can explain, and do me a favor this time: don't spare any details."

Abbie's eyebrows drop. Really, all the muscles in her face sagged a little. She wondered if Tina was this cold all the time, and if not, when it happened. She's going to answer. What's going on was the catalyst for calling Tina to her in the first place. Then, she hears footsteps nearing Corbin's office.

"Shit."

Nico didn't know patience, "So, you're just not going to explain? Cool." The sarcasm in her tone is palpable.

Abbie, for her part, is trying to get herself together, and grab as much of his things as she needs before she's caught. "I'm not supposed to be here."

Then, the door swings open, and she stands straight, glances at Tina, who gives her this hard look with her stick thing glowing again and that stuns her silent. So, she just waits for reprimand. Irving looks around the office, as if nothing is there at all. Abbie recognizes the look of self doubt in his eyes before he shrugs it off, and closes the door back. When she doesn't hear his footsteps anymore, the stick stops glowing.

"What was that?"

"Invisibility." Nico answers, as it it were obvious. Maybe it should have been.

Abbie's looking at Tina, moreso at that thing she's holding. She found peace in Tina, and because she seemed to know a lot about things that most people didn't. She needed her help to navigate through the crazy. She didn't expect her to bring more crazy, more things she couldn't explain.

"How?"

Tina lets out a small chuckle, and it's incredibly dry, "I know you believe that my magic is a figment of my imagination, just as you think demons were a figment of your mother's, but I assure you — as I have many times in the past — that you're wrong on both accounts."

Abbie believes her now. Fully. Believes Crane, too, and she can't leave him locked up. Not now.

"Now, care to explain what I just heard about the Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen?"

Ichabod — somehow, someway — is in the middle of the woods, again.

It's dark, foggy. He reaches out in front of him, and can hardly see his own hand. He squints, spots a figure ahead of him. It appears distant, but given the circumstances of how dark everything seems around him, he isn't certain of its proximity. But, he can make out soft curves, he can distinguish the figures femininity. He steps closer. Little by little the darkness fades but the fog remains.

Faintly he sees red hair and porcelain skin and breaks out into a high jog. He had no concept of time, wasn't sure how long it had taken him to come face to face with her, but here she was. The love of his life, his soulmate.

"Katrina," he reached out and gifted a feathered touch to her hair, "Forgive me, my love."

He wasn't sure exactly what he was apologizing for. He felt as though he'd failed her as a husband. He felt deep grief for the way that she died.

She disregarded his apology, "This was the only way I could reach you." He read her expression: panicked, urgent, frightened. It filled his own heart with a great sense of worry. "I've been trying to lead you."

"The gravestone," he whispered, remembering the bird.

"My body was never buried in that grave," she explained, which prompted more questions to sound off in his head, "It hides the true location of the Horseman's skull, guarded throughout time by one of my coven."

There was a snap in the woods. Following it was a tug at this feet. Firm; he was unable to fight it.

"We don't have much time."

There was a tug at his feet, as the word coven played in his head, like a mantra. She was a witch, and she hadn't told him. Hadn't said a word. How couldn't she? They were supposed to share everything.

"We are part of an ancient order sworn to fight the darkness that hides in Sleepy Hollow.

When you wounded the Horseman, your bloodlines merged. You became linked, bound together by blood.

The only way to stop him was to cast a spell on you both.

Then we entombed the Horseman's body deep below the river. We buried you in that cave to protect you."

It all made sense, now. How and why they just happened to spring up at the same time. But, then something else clicked, "Then, you haven't awakened me."

The tug at his feet was less subtle. Katrina becoming further and further urther away, but he still had more questions.

"It's the Horseman that had been awakened, and you along with him, Ichabod. "

"How? By who?"

She looked past him, as if spotting something off into the distance. He struggled against whatever was forcing them apart.

"By the same evil that's trapped me here, the very one that controls the Horseman now." There's rustling, and she gasps, "He's found us! There isn't time. If the Horseman reclaims his skull, he'll become whole again. Three more will follow, and then it will begin."

"What will begin?"

"The end."

Fighting against this mysterious force is useless, Crane continues to try. He listens to her strict instructions not to allow the Horsemen to become whole. Notes that he only has one night to do this. Believes her about him being the Witness spoken about in the book of Revelations, makes note to get Washington's Bible back in his possession. Takes her pleas for him to free her from this wretched evil to heart because he loves her too much to let her stay here. He isn't ready to leave her yet but it's becoming more and more apparent he had no control over the matter. He bellows out her name, hoping that her magic can do something to stop it.

She doesn't.

Ichabod wakes up, strapped to the bed. He struggles against the nurses and their attendants as they attempt to sedate him.

The door opens and Lieutenant Mills walks in, accompanied by two unfriendly and very unfamiliar faces. One of whom is holding a tool Ichabod finds himself most intrigued by. He watches with wonder as it lights up and goes from short to long.

Tina plants the Staff on the floor, nurses in mind, and says, "Sleep," and watches them drop to the floor. Ichabod's freehand unstraps his bound wrist free as Abbie and the young lady wearing entirely too much makeup for Crane's tastes unstrap him. "Hurry. We've got about three minutes before the spell drops." The woman with the stick stalks out of the room. And, the three of them follow.

He leans down to Abigail, "I see you've called in reinforcements."

"I called my soulmate." She clarifies, keeps straight ahead, "Before I met you."

"Your soulmate is a woman, who clearly possesses abilities beyond the realm of possibility, as does mine, and you doubt your fate?"

The entire lobby was filled with a sleeping staff. The woman who preceded them as well as the grim looking one awaited them at the buildings interest. Ichabod looked down at Abigail and wondered if she was deliberately not looking at him. (She was.)

"I know what the Horseman is after." Now, she looked at him.

There was this ferocity in Tina's gaze. The kind that Abbie was sure could make anyone susceptible to her will. Abbie couldn't tell if it was the magic or just Tina. She explained everything, just the way Tina asked, spared (mostly) no details. She told her about her childhood experiences, how the influenced some of their conversations, she told her about what happened that night at the farm. She explains the stuff she found in Corbin's office, tells them about a map of Hudson Valley from 1776. Crane recognizes it, gives more context.

Tina doesn't react to anything Abbie says in a way that would suggests she's been told anything out of the ordinary. She just hums along during certain parts of Abbie's story. Her face doesn't twitch, her voice doesn't change, her body language, her posture stays perfect, calm. Crane finds it unsettling, makes it a point to say so, but Abbie thinks the opposite.

"I don't believe it." Abbie looks at a Nico through the rear view mirror.

Crane is visibly incredulous, "Your mother practices witchcraft and you doubt the impending end of days?"

Nico shrugs with ease, "I have to see it." She begins to eat, finally because her stomach is touching her back.

"How can you eat at such a dire time?"

"Because I'm hungry.'

Abbie chuckles at that. Decides to call in for back up. She doesn't feel as though it's a legitimate necessity. Because once, Tina had told her, ' _Everything you do is safe with me_ ', and she honestly never stopped believing her. It was the reason she wrote. Still, having backup couldn't hurt, and she wants other people to experience what she has. Even if only a small faction. She calls Andy because he's always had her back. She knows he'll come through for her, no matter the circumstance. He agrees to help her and to call in for others.

At the cemetery, they split of into pairs. Crane and Tina. Nico shadowed Abbie, in case shit got real for Abbie, and she needed help that badly. Otherwise, Tina had insisted Nico stay out of the way.

Nico didn't want to hang back; Nico was itching to see some action, but Nico was more fearful of the idea of her mother's wrath than she was any man on a horse, headless or not. And, if what she was told was going on was actually going on, she figured that now would be the worst time to rebel, so she went with the plan.

Crane was in charge of the digging of his dead wife's faux grave. Namely because Tina wasn't a hundred percent sure of what was being sought out, but also because she didn't do dirty, and she was the only reasonable line of defense for when the Horseman showed up. She looked around, searched for any sign at all that they weren't alone.

Meanwhile, Crane struck gold, after digging for he didn't know how long.

He'd unearthed the coffin and broke through. He tossed the shovel aside, outside of the grave, and continued to tear away at the coffin. Sure enough, it was here: the head of the Headless Horseman. He held it up, gazing at it, wide eyed, mouth gaped. He looked up at Tina, who was looking down in disgust at the head. Crane sat it down, and it's eyes opened.

Tina stepped away from it, "Disgusting."

Crane had no time for a response as the neighing of a horse could be heard approaching. They both looked up again, and there he was. The headless man wearing a red coat, riding a white horse, charging at them. The Horsemen hoped off the horse, pulled a shotgun off of his back. After cocking it, he shot them. Using the Staff, Tina created an invisible barrier to both stop the bullets and repel them back towards the Horseman.

She didn't take her eyes off him, but referred to Ichabod, "Take the head and go."

Crane hadn't been fond of the idea of leaving her behind. But, there was something a callousness to her voice that gave her austere aura an edge, and Ichabod didn't feel he had a choice but to obey.

Off into the distance, Abbie heard the gunshots. They sounded off, and Abbie's intital instinct was to run at them, help out; place herself at the front line. But, Andy pulled up, and she needed more efficient ammunition. He parked, got out and headed towards the trunk as he did the same.

"I need a rifle from your truck, now!" Abbie looked around, noticing it was just Andy. There should've been more. "Where's back up?"

He stuttered, "I don't know, I called it in."

Abbie, once at the trunk, watched as he opened it and made an attempt to call for back up herself. The effort interrupted by an unforeseen, searing blow to the back of her head. It was enough to be highly disorienting, but not enough to take her out. She felt herself be dragged then carried to the backseat of the squad car.

"I told you to leave it alone, Abbie," she begged him not to do whatever it was in his plans. "And, you didn't listen." She tried again. He stroked her face as if she were a sacred, precious doll, "But, it's okay. I'm going to protect you."

Abbie had half a mind to bite the thumb that was oh so close to her mouth. If she just turned her head a little, she'd have him. Then, there wasn't a need for that. Out of the blue, Andy collapsed, his hand sliding off her face. His face being replaced with Nico's.

Nico, who looked down at Andy before kicking him out of her way to the best of her abilities, and helped Abbie sit up and refocus herself. As Abbie reoriented, Nico dug around Andy's person, picking up his handcuffs. She cuffed him to the opened car door, and pocketed the keys for herself.

She helped Abbie crawl out the car, "You've got some shit friends."

Holding her spells up against the Horseman was without a doubt, one of the most difficult things she had ever done. She had a headache worse than anything she'd every felt. Her limbs felt as if they'd give up on her at any moment now. She hadn't been able to hold the spell against him as long as she hoped, but she could fight.

Holding up magic was a tremendous feat. Going blow for blow, on the other hand, felt like playful sparring for her. 

It would have felt like less than that had she not been so drained. She took it all in, his techniques, his stances. Strong as he was, his skill was outdated at best. She landed all her blows; she could count on a single hand the amount he landed. The back and forth had gone from the cemetery to the front of the church and eventually lead them into the middle of the street.

Being utterly devoted to the battle at hand, Tina hadn't even heard the police car pull up. She hadn't heard their orders for weapons to be dropped and hands to be placed on their heads. So, when they begin to shoot, the Staff lit once more, on its own, protecting Tina and Tina alone. The Staff caught the bullets, and held them as Tina continued her brawl with the Horseman.

Tina noticed, that as the sun begin to rise, the Horseman seemed more reluctant in the fight and begin to steam. The Staff became increasingly more focused on the cops who unloaded their guns in their direction. The Horsemen staggered back, away from the fight, hopped his horse and rode off.

Tina was only vaguely aware of the fact that she was turning around, now to face the officers; only vaguely aware that The Staff of One was being firmly planted onto the ground beneath her. Completely unaware of the fact that Ichabod was watching, crouched down behind a car from across the street; completely unaware that her soulmate and daughter were stumbling upon the scene; the scene where her darkness was unfolding.

But, she knew; the Staff knew the police were still shooting, and that was the only important thing. The Staff continued to collect bullets, until finally, they ran out of ammunition.

Watching the scene from a distance, Abbie exhaled the breath she had been holding, happy that Tina was safe. Safer than she had just been.

Nico, at the same time, felt every nerve in her body jump because she knew that stance, felt that energy, understood the gravity of it. "Oh, no."

The Staff sent the bullets hailing back at the officers with such ferocity that it wasn't safe behind the car doors; the bullets tearing holes straight through. They dove inside, hiding underneath the dashboard as the bullets kept coming. Tina heard Abbie's voice — screaming for her — but she couldn't comprehend the words. Bullets continued to fly.

"Mom," Nico cried out, "Stop!!"

Tina's head snapped in Nico's direction because that blood curdling fear from her child never ceases to catch her attention. The Staff powered down, and the bullets fell to the concrete. Once she removed her thumb, the Staff shriveled into its short form. She and Nico stared back and forth. Nico's heavy breathing slowed and eventually ceased.

"What the hell was that?" Abbie whispered at Nico's side.

"The Staff." Was the only explanation Nico have before heading over to her mom.

"I ought to throw you in jail."

Since the murder of Sheriff Corbin, Abbie had done nothing but be insubordinate. She defied order after order. She had even broken a few laws, technically. She was more than prepared to deal with a fallout between she and the Captain. So, she just followed him as he begin the rant she knew this was going to lead to, Crane and Tina somewhere around while Nico was right behind her.

"Except I have a preserved head in a pickle jar and two cops who just backed up your story." Irving passed through the office, Crane now in the line of sight, Tina close by, standing adjacent to him. Each with something to read in their hand. They approached the pair, "Not to mention a confession from Brooks, who says he'll plea-bargain, but only if he talks to you, Sister Grim and Captain America here."

Crane's head peaked up at the Captain America comment, not fully understanding what it meant, but knowing it was referencing him. Tina and Nico exchanged looks over Abbie's shoulder, unsure of which of the two of them the Sister Grim comment was referring to. Nico gestured her finger back and forth between herself and her mother, mouthing the words: _Me or You?_ Tina shrugged, just as visibly confused as Nico. Abbie didn't let her face show how amused she was at the sight, kept her eyes focused on Irving, who kept moving. So she continued to follow him, the Minorus and Crane trailing behind the two of them.

"Now, there's a room full of press looking for answers that I don't have." In front of his office, in a nearly empty hall, he turned to them, finally looking Abbie in the eye. "So why don't you help me for a change and give me some?"

"The truth, sir?" Abbie hardly knew more than he did, "We're just scratching the surface here." Irving sighed, Abbie knew disappointment when she saw it, "Whatever this is, it's going to get a lot worse."

Irving's balled up fist rested upon his hips as he looked to the floor, chuckled with no sense of humor, "Outstanding." He looked back at Abbie, "I'm told you're transferring to Quantico next week."

Behind her, Tina hummed and muttered, "News to me."

"Not anymore," Because Crane was right. She couldn't run from this, "I think this is where I'm meant to be."

Irving looked at Abbie, looked at her... companions than back at her. "Go get me some answers I can understand." Then, he stormed off.

She turned back to her team, smiling but only just slightly. She could see Crane's pleased expression, though, she wasn't focused on it. She was moreso looking at Tina, who wore the same expressionless look but with soft eyes, focused back at her.

Crane retrieved Washington's Bible from his coat jacket, "There's something you should know." The four of their heads craned over the Bible. He begin searching the Bible, looking for a specific book, "In my dream, Katrina referred to me as the first witness."

Abbie nodded along, "Revelations."

"This speaks of two witnesses, brought together for a seven-year "period of tribulation" to defend humanity from the forces of hell. Their battle is prophesied to ordain the fate of the world on judgment day."

The memory of having read the book of Revelations seeped back into Abbie's brain, "You think that's us?"

Crane nodded, "You said, after the woods, you lost your way but perhaps you were called to something, Abbie. To finish the work your sheriff started. Perhaps we both were."

Nico's face split into a wide toothed grin, "Sounds like you guys need all the help you can get."

"Indeed." Crane agreed.

Nico turned to Tina, "Since we're fighting the end of days, do I still have to go to school?"


	4. 1.5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment between the pilot and Blood Moon

Tina and Abbie sat on the plastic covered couch in Tina's home, drinking coffee. She studied Abigail over the brim of her cup. She hasn't actually seen Abbie since she stopped relying on her to help her deal with her grief for Amy. Almost two years.

She's spent a considerable amount of time with Abbie, in retrospect. Countless dreamscapes. A lifetime of hours spent face deep in a journal, pretending conversations were spoken rather than written. For years, her entire life really, Abbie was the only person she allowed herself to confide in. When she didn't confide in Abbie, she confided in no one. To be physically sitting in front of her, though, in the real world felt so much different than those other times. Everything else paled in comparison.

Now that they were more or less alone — Crane and Nico both... around somewhere — Tina found herself struggling to think of something to say, too much in her head about saying the wrong thing.

Abbie looked around, at the interior of the home she'd been in (unauthorized) more than a few times. "Lovely house."

Tina snorted around her coffee, just about choking, "An antique shop threw up all over this place. It's superannuated."

Abbie's head cocked almost unnoticeably to the left, a twinkle present in her eyes, shining brighter with every blink, "It's charming."

"About as charming as the Horsemen."

Abbie's eyes closed as she leaned her head onto the plastic wrapped couch, smile ever present on her lips. Tina's face softened considerably and she hadn't realized she had leaned forward an inch or two. Abbie let out a soft groan, "Too soon."

Tina shrugged as Abbie's eyes fluttered open; Tina leaned back, brought coffee to her lips, "I fought him. I'm allowed to make jokes."

Abbie's smile widened as Tina took a sip. "About that," Tina sat her cup on the coffee table then leaning backward, tucking her one of her legs underneath her, "That thing with the cops and your little magic stick, what was that?"

"My little magic stick," Tina said pointedly, "Is the of the most powerful tool in all of existence, in this universe, and it's called The Staff of One. Address it properly."

There was no genuine maliciousness in her tone, Abbie could tell. "Yes, Ma'am." Abbie saluted. "But, seriously, what was that? You were so," She paused, trying to place the correct word as to not offend..

"Ruthless."

It was the perfect word, really. Abbie nodded, "Yeah."

Tina shrugged like it was nothing, "Side effect of the Staff." It wasn't a topic she was particularly open to discussing so she changed the subject, "I never thought we'd be together." She didn't realize the implication that was made until Abbie's brows rose with suggestion. She added, "Never thought we'd meet."

"Me either."

"What you said before, does it still apply?"

Abbie knew exactly what she was talking about. The whole, " _this isn't going to one of those, we've finally met and now I'm going to fall in love with you things_ , " thing. A statement that was only semi-inaccurate when spoken. Abbie had already been falling when she said because for the longest time, aside from Jenny, Tina — even if just the idea of — kept her going. Those were words that should have never been spoken, and they quietly haunted her her entire adult life. Part of her still kind of hates Robert, wherever he is.

Yet and still, she doesn't want things to roll over that easily. Tina has been a lifeline to her but she knows she's omitted so much. Tina knows her but she doesn't know her. It's only fair to assume Tina had done the same. She wanted to start from scratch.

Suddenly sober, her smile collapsed and her shoulders slumped, "I don't know," the shrug she gave riddled with languid and exhaustion, "We'll see."

It wasn't the answer she wanted, but it was so much more than she thought she was going to get. She scooted closer to Abbie, the plastic under her bottom making things so much easier. All Abbie's senses were on high alert now, and she couldn't take her eyes off Tina, she squirmed a bit. Could've been missed, but Tina hadn't missed it. Fueled her confidence.

"It's fair to let you know," Tina rested her hand on the lower underside of Abbie's thigh, near her knee, and rubbed her thumb over the side of her thigh. Abbie sharply inhaled; the feeling exceeding electrifying. Tina dropped her voice an octave, "I've always resented allowing you to set the pace for our relationship. So, it may take some time, but you will be mine." Tina smirked, watching the exaggerated fashion in which Abbie's chest rose and fell. It was a relief to know that, after all these years, things weren't unrequited. She leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "Not because it's fate, but because I want you."

A shiver crawled up Abbie's spine as her eyes rolled then shut. Tina went back to original position; the loss of contact left her reeling and forced her eyes back open, to the sight of her picking up her coffee and leaning back. Tina's smirk and the dance she did with her eyes over the cup was definition of smug.

Abbie needed to change the subject. Looking around the house again, her mind caught up with her. She looked back at Tina, hoped that when she spoke she didn't sound as breathless as she felt, "You know," she managed she sound even more airy. She cleared her throat, "I used to break into this place, a lot." Something akin to a grin danced across her lips, "I still remember its weak points."

Ichabod — it would seem — was much more interested in technology than he was magic.

Nico thought that if was a bit lame, at first. Magic outweighed science by a long shot in her book. But, she supposed for a man who was of an era where cars didn't exist, a touch screen cellphone was pretty big deal. So, since they had gotten home, she'd been teaching him everything she could think of to teach him about all things modern and technological. It turned out to be one of the few things that rivaled magic in terms of entertainment.

(There was nothing funnier than making a fully dressed Ichabod Crane stand in the shower and turned the shower head on, on him. The way he violently staggered back prompting him to fall over and nearly out of the tub was definitely America's Funniest Home Videos worthy. Nico was more than pleased with herself for having gotten the incident on video. Of course, Crane hadn't thought it was nearly as entertaining, but the video was for Nico's joy. And, he'd look back and laugh one day anyway.)

She taught him how to use a cellphone, how to play games, watch videos, all that good stuff. She'd been given the job of keeping him busy; she didn't want to, and there was really no better way to busy anyone than addictive cellphone games. Crane developed a thing for Temple Run; once he'd started playing, nothing else in the world seemed to matter much.

Nico wanted to do something else, anything else. While Crane was occupied, Nico snuck out the back of the house. She wanted to get a better feel of her new house, new yard. Her backyard was twice as spacious as the front, and there was a big, old shed in the back. There was a lock on it, she'd discovered.

She was picking the lock when she felt eyes on her.

She looked up and around, laying eyes on a tall, blonde girl who was watching from the neighboring next door. Nico found herself completely unable to look away. She couldn't tell if she was mesmerized because of the fact that she was in shorts that were much too short for her to ever have permission to wear; her neighbor had legs that would make an Amazon jealous. Or, if she was entranced by her soft, delicate, doll-like features. Or, if she captivated by the fact that she couldn't tell if this girl was actually glowing or if Nico was experiencing love at first sight.

Nico discounted neither idea; she'd experienced weirder things in the last day or so alone than either of those possibilities.

Then, the girl smiled, and Nico stopped breathing; felt dizzy. When she waved, Nico waved back before her brain gave the command. The girl's face got red as she ducked her head and headed inside. Whatever hold she had on Nico, she could literally feel it be broken once the girl was out of sight.

She was a bit embarrassed to say that she was unable to think about anything but the hot blonde next door for the remainder of the day.


	5. Blood Moon

Tasked with the job of keeping a watchful eye on this generation's own Rip Van Winkle, Nico's bedroom was directly adjacent to Crane's. Much to her own dismay.

The sun wasn't even fully up and out yet she could hear him crying out and thrashing about in his bedroom across the hall. She'd wanted to ignore him at first; she tried. Tossed and turned, covering her head in pillow after pillow. It didn't work, of course. Ichabod was loud as shit.

Her eyes shot open and she huffed. For about half a second, she considered doing that come of silence spell so she wouldn't have to hear him. Then, she considered how pissed her mom would be if she had to get up with to deal with him, and they really needed Crane. Things would be really bad if Tina made him disappear, and Nico knew better than to put it past her.

Reluctant and irritated, Nico pulled herself out of bed and dragged her feet across the hall. Crane's bedroom door was still open, which explained so much. She walked up to his bed, stood over him, took in how distressed he appeared to be.

She tried to shake him, but he didn't respond to that. So, she cocked her arm back and swung with all her strength, smacking him across the face. Crane jolted upward at that, eyes wide open. He brought his hand up to his face, rubbing the stinging area. He looked around for the culprit, eyes landing on the young teen who wore an expression that displayed both amusement and annoyance.

"You woke me up." She explained, as if that explanation sufficed.

Hand still holding his face, "You slapped me."

"Better get slapped by me than whatever my mom was going to do to you."

Crane thought back to watching her fight The Horseman. How it was The Horseman who was struggling to keep up with her, and not the other way around. Thought about the other thing that happened with her, and the cops. He shuddered at the thought. Suddenly, being slapped by Nico didn't seem like a bad thing.

"I suppose you're right."

Nico sat down, forcing him to make room for her, "What were screaming about anyway?"

"I was talking to my wife."

Nico snorted, "If that's how you respond to your wife, you two should look into couples therapy."

Crane rolled his eyes at Nico's little quip. What a mouth she had, he thought, nearly every time she had spoken to him, in such a short time.

He huffed, "I was being taken away from her."

"Must've been rough."

"It was most woeful, yes."

Nico awkwardly patted his shoulder as a token of consolation. It was a tad bit uncomfortable for the both of them, so she stopped after three pats.

"So, before you were taken away from your wife, what were you talking about?"

Ichabod tried to sort through his emotions and the high strung energy of the entire visit in order to remember her exact words. He focused solely on the memory of her words.

"She said, _Before the Four Horsemen can ride, an army of evil will make way for their arrival, that the first dark spirit rises with a blood moon_." He mumbled, but Nico heard him.

She frowned at that, “Blood moon is tonight."

He snapped his head in her direction, “How do you know that?"

“I'm a witch. Why wouldn't I know that?" She stood and began towards the door.

His face fell, “Where are you going?”

“To get my mom, so she can call Abbie.”

Abbie Mills jogged down the steps as she followed Captain Irving through the police station as they discussed recent events. Things seemed as though things they could possibly be going their way, in terms of Sheriff Corbin's case.

“We've talked about this," he sighed, and Abbie could only imagine he must be truly sick of her by now, “The circumstances surrounding Sheriff Corbin's murder are opaque at best.”

She released curt breath through her nose, "That's one way of putting it."

She trailed behind, tried to keep his pace. Captain Irving had a tendency to walk through these conversations as if he were trying to get away from. But, she kept up. Close enough to continue the conversation.

"Another way of putting it," she went on, "would be that he was killed with an axe with by a man with no head, but that would make me sound crazy."

When he stopped and turned to her, she nearly ran into him, but she stopped herself just short of him. He was already short of her. She didn't need to get him another reason, no matter how small.

“You said it, not me.” He kept walking.

She shook her head, "Not just my words, sir. Two other officers corroborated my story. "

He turned once more, stopping altogether this time. “They recanted.”

Her eyes nearly fell out of her head. She clenched her jaw, briefly to keep her mouth from gaping open. Here she thought they were making headway. Only for the only credible witnesses to step forward, took a thousand steps back. Her head was absolutely reeling. Apparently, they were too afraid to sound insane to stand in their truth. Which, she understood, completely. Still, she was beyond disappointed. (On the bright side, them recanting took some heat off Tina and the fact that she had nearly killed them both.) But, there was much more going on. More that could prove what she was saying. What Crane was saying.

“Brooks was locked in a cell less than five minutes, yet somehow, someone, something got in there and snapped his head backwards like a PEZ dispenser, what about that?”

He sighed, “Come with me.”

The video evidence was nonsensical. Brooks running head first into a brick wall, was nonsense. She shook her head, argued that it had to be bullshit. Argued in favor of Crane's credibility. She couldn't be wrong about this. She needed to be believed.

Objective Transference.

That was the explanation offered to her. That Crane's brain had tricked itself into believing that he fought in the Revolutionary War. That he beheaded one of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. That may he truly believed his wife was a witch that preserved for him to be arisen 250 years later. But, that it was all it was. His brain tricking himself. It was logical. It made sense. Maybe she was wrong about this.

"So, you think we're both crazy?"

He shrugged, "Possibly," he rose to his feet and headed toward the elevator, "Look, I can't explain what's going on here. Not yet. But in the absence of options, you and your little posse may be my only chance." When the doors open, he stepped inside and turned to face her, "I won't be at the funeral, I'm sorry. I'm going to Albany to secure some resources. While I'm gone, I'm giving you some latitude. But I am warning you, Lieutenant." He pointed the folders in his hands at her chest, "Do not embarrass me."

Tina couldn't say that she was Crane's biggest fan.

He was irascible in a childish way, and didn't respond well not got getting his way. He had been whining for Abbie for over fifteen minutes, after being told to give a play-by-play of his vision with his wife. Now, he was at the door arguing with the officer posted out front about whether or not he could leave to go find Abbie, and when she would be there. As if Tina hadn't contacted her after Nico had first awaken her this morning.

Patience was a virtue. An important one that Crane seemed to lack.

She'd allowed him a room in her new home as a courtesy as well as out of convenience, but she was already beginning to regret doing so.

"I hope you haven't gotten attached to your little puppy," She whispered to Nico, who stood at the stove as Ichabod re-entered the kitchen. "I don't think we'll be keeping it."

The venom in her voice was as evident as the banter bait.

Nico smirked, "But, I've already named it and everything."

Tina's smile was small but clear, and totally wiped away when her eyes landed on Crane. She sipped her tea.

Walking into the kitchen, Crane could literally feel Tina's disdain for him in her gaze. His knees nearly gave way beneath him; though, he didn't let it show. There weren't many things — much less people — who put genuine fear in his heart. But, Tina Minoru made him want to run away back to England. Or, bury himself in that grave again. Tina, as a stand-alone entity without magic, was frightening enough as is. But, according to Nico, she had been practicing magic since she could read, since she was three years old. And, she wielded, what Crane was sure, one of the most — if not the most — powerful tool in all of the universe.

So, yes. He was afraid. And, the fact that he could tell that she didn't like him made him that much more afraid. It made him rethink his desire to raise his voice again.

"Leftenant Mills is on her way." He murmured. Tina was visibly pleased by his sudden change in attitude.

About twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Tina sat down her tea mug and went to answer it. On the other side stood the one and only, Abigail Mills, holding a brown paper bag, sporting a worn down and tired expression. Her eyes held a mirror of hopelessness.

"Good morning," Tina added a gentleness to her voice that otherwise wouldn't be there.

Her smile was genuine yet lazy and very short lived, "Good morning."

Tina stepped aside and motioned for Abbie to come inside. She crossed the threshold and stood behind Tina as she closed the door, but didn't walk away without her.

"I might make your walking encyclopedia sleep outside from now on."

Abbie couldn't help but laugh, low and airy, "What'd he do?"

Tina rolled her eyes as she begin to walk to the kitchen, "Other than behave like a three year old? He woke me up before the sun, screaming in his bedroom and knocking against walls." She blew a little air from her nose, audibly, "I've nothing against nightmares, but have them quietly."

"I'm sure the guard personnel would keep an eye on him."

"Careful," Tina warned, light and playful, "I might think you're giving me permission."

Abbie shrugged, feeling some of the weight being taken off of her chest, the way it used to when she was young and talked to Tina during rough nights.

"I might be." She said, as they stepped into the kitchen. Nico was setting the table. When she saw Abbie, she simply turned to get another plate.

Crane spotted her and decided to let his grievances fly free, containing his temper, though, very much conscious of Tina's warning glare. Abbie only half listened; she responded to statements that were more or less important, when necessary. But, mostly, she and Tina shared irritated glances between the two of them. If Crane noticed, he didn't let it stop him. Though, Abbie and Tina both wished he would stop. Nico, while entertained by him, could read a room.

She cut in, "Dead wife, talk about your dead wife. Nobody cares about anything but."

He looked offended but noticed the way Abbie seemed to perk up a bit, and the way Tina looked less irritated. Once again, Nico was onto something and Ichabod was forced to concede.

He nodded, "Very well. I received a warning from Katrina last night." Abbie just raised an eyebrow, "She appeared to me in a dream, more aptly, a vision."

Listening to him speak, Abbie was suffering an internal battle for her own sanity. Even though, as time passed and situation after situation presented itself, she was losing her concept of what that even meant for her. Captain Irving's words swirled around in her head. It was logical. It gave reason to the absolute unreasonable. What Crane was saying had to be false, had to be. Because that would be what she and her sister saw as kids was also false. Abbie was certain she'd rather be crazy than any of this be real. But, even then, Captain Irving's explanation didn't cover all. Only Crane. Tina and Nico, everything they could do, she had seen that, too. Those things were certainly unreasonable, and she had nothing to explain them. She sat the bag on the table. Crane picked it up and looked inside.

Crane continued through her silence, all the while Tina was waiting for him to get to the point, “For the time being, the Headless Horseman seems to have vanished. Which, in theory, would provide relief. Except she said, The first dark spirit awaits entry into your world."

She sat the bag on the table. Crane picked it up and looked inside. Intrigued, he pulled out the spheric, sticky substance and held it to his nose, taking a whiff. His eyes rolled to back of his head; the smell quite euphoric to him.

Abbie looked as if she had somewhere else better to be. Nico could see her mind drifting away.

"My, these are delicious." Crane mumbled, to himself.

Abbie ignored that, "So, that's your proof?" Both Tina and Nico looked at her, eyebrows quirked upright. "Your dead wife came to you in a dream?"

The air shifted to something quietly hostile.

"Whoa, dreamscape messages are extremely valuable." Nico defended, while at the same time, Crane said, "Someone's given you reason to doubt my veracity." And, Tina just stood by, eyes trained on Abbie as she drank her tea, curious as to where she was going with this.

Abbie focused on Crane, "Oh," she let out a humorless chuckle, "I didn't need a reason. I've been doubting you since we met. And myself." She sighed, "And now you're telling me that something new is coming, but you don't know what, or who, or why.".

Crane frowned, "After all we've seen, you're still holding onto uncertainty."

"I'm trying to hold onto my sanity!" She snapped, then calmed herself, "Not to mention my job."

Tina lowered her mug, "What's insane about allowing yourself to believe something you — and not just you — have been coming face to face with time and time again?"

"It's more insane to be this indenial, if you ask me." Nico chimed in.

Abbie shook her head then looked at Tina, "I don't have strong credibility, you know that."

Tina caught the drift. The reference to her mother and sister. Though, Nico and Ichabod were both visibly lost.

"What about me?" Tina asked, "I own an international technology company, with designs I came up with on my own. Our," she paused, "family histories are nothing similar. So, what about me? Am I credible? What about my daughter, is she credible?" She glanced over a Crane, and didn't address that. It made sense why people didn't find him credible. She couldn't defend that. She gave Abbie time to form a rebuttal, but when she didn't offer one, Tina pressed on, "Nothing going on around here is in you head."

Abbie found reassurance in her words. Both because they made enough sense to her for a portion of her self doubt to die and because she always found comfort and reassurance in Tina. She took a few deep breaths, weighing her options, going back and forth. Until she told that voice that told her she was wrong to shut up.

She looked at Crane, "What did Katrina say?"

When his eyes opened, the only thing concrete to Andy was darkness. His state of confinement inside of the body bag that housed him was secondary. The darkness alone was enough to spark fear.

He flailed around in the bag, throwing himself off the cold slab. It was only after he landed, did he locate a zipper, his key to freedom. Undoing the zipper, he freed himself. Standing up, it was impossible not to notice himself in the mirror; with his head knocked backwards so far his hair nearly met his hips, Andy was positive he looked headless from the front.

He didn't know a human neck could stretch back so far.

His panic was short lived, having been interrupted by a dark, instantly recongizable voice, speaking greek to him; Moloch, from his distance, snapped his head back to its rightful position, gave Andy orders he wanted no hand in but couldn't refuse. His weak protest were cut short by the feeling of something seemingly clawing its way from his throat. The pain of it made him fall to his knees, clutching his throat the way a choking victim would.

He stuck his fingers in his mouth, helping to pull the object out of him, coming out with a long pendant. Moloch gave him instructions to release some dark entity, but was unspecific, even after asked for details.

Tina didn't need to be asked to attend Sheriff Corbin's funeral with Abbie. It was more than evident that Abbie needed support, and it was understood that Tina would be that for her.

Besides, there was investigating to be done today, so the four of them piled into Abbie's van; the kids (Nico and Ichabod) in the back with Tina in the passenger seat as Abbie drove. The plan in place was that Crane and Nico would get a headstart on things while Tina acted as Abbie's support system.

In the meantime, they made the best of the ride. Mostly teasing and grilling Crane because it was easy and everyone (maybe except Crane) could find at the very least a slither of joy in it.

Abbie glanced back at Crane in her rearview mirror, "Okay, let me see if I got this," she refocused on the road, "When you first met Katrina," she unintentionally trailed off.

Crane, as he examined the bag of donut holes, finished her sentence, "She disliked me intensely."

"I can certainly see why," Tina's tone was teasing yet flat but her words were as honest as honesty gets.

Abbie shot her a playful glare, "Because?" She questioned Crane, who sat aghast in the backseat, staring at receipt.

"Is this correct?" He looked between Abbie and Nico, knowing his response was likely to come from either one of them. "This meal cost $4. 95?! Dear God." He kept reading, only for things to become more appalling down the line, "With an additional tax of 41 cents?"

Nico chuckled, "Pretty cheap, honestly." He looked at her as if she were a hellhound.

Abbie laughed, "No, no, don't try to change the subject." She shook her head and tapped the wheel. "Somehow you fell in love, you get married, but the whole time you have no idea that your wife is a witch?"

"Correct."

Abbie shot him another glance, " How could you not know?"

Tina shrugged, "Robert didn't know."

Abbie looked back and forth between Tina and the road, trying to see if there was any hint of dishonesty there. Not that she truly doubted Tina. She was just taken aback by the fact that she knew something about her that her husband, her life partner didn't. It made her feel a sense of pride. Still, it was shocking.

Crane leant over to Nico and whispered for only her to her, "Is Robert your father?"

Nico winced, hadn't thought about him nor Amy since he had died. But, she nodded, hoping he hadn't noticed her reaction. He definitely did, but he didn't pry.

Upfront, eyes back on Tina, Abbie asked, "What do you mean Robert didn't know? What did he think the Staff was?"

“One of my many technological designs." Tina gave Crane her attention before Abbie could respond, "So, how did you not know?" She asked, but she could anticipate the answer. She knew the history of her people. But, she was successful in distracting Abbie, and that was the entire point.

"When Katrina and I met, the witch trials though less pervasive had already taken the lives of hundreds of women, so I choose to believe Katrina withheld the truth to protect me and herself, and as we've come to learn, the fate of the entire country from those who would do us considerable harm!"

“Do you have to answer everything with the dramatic level of a Shakespearean play?" Nico asked. Abbie chuckled. Nico looked out the window, "More and more, I understand why they think you're insane."

"No, what's insane is a ten-percent levy on baked goods." Crane ranted, leaning up to Abbie's ear, "You do realize the Revolutionary War began on less than two percent? How is the public not flocking to the streets in outrage? We must do something."

Tina hummed, good-naturedly as she stared out the window, elbow on the door with her fingers holding her chin. She and Crane agreed on taxes. Who knew?

"Here's what we can do." Abbie changed lanes, "No more firsthand accounts of witches or founding fathers or donut tax outrage unless you want to be sent back to the asylum."

Crane nodded, "Point taken."

At the funeral, Abbie replayed her relationship with Sheriff Corbin in her head, from start to finish. Thinking about the moment she found his body, beheaded, almost killed her. She wanted so badly to help him, to fix it, but how does one fix a decapitation? It put a new meaning to the word, helpless.

A few tears slipped from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She's used to loss, not having any consistent people or things in life, save for Tina, which only halfway counted. But, losing August Corbin left her completely winded. She had never been so ill-prepared for anything her entire life. He was her family when she had none. It was hard not to feel alone now.

Tina stood by, close and within her eye line. So, Abbie kept her eyes on her, finding enough comfort in knowing she was there to kept her composure.

Close by, Nico watched as Crane kneeled down to the grave that held his wife's name. She, personally, thought being here was useless, seeing as they both knew her body wasn't in there, but she kept that to herself. Crane asked the tombstone for guidance, for more understanding of what she was had been referring to in her vision. Nico thought, back to what Ichabod told her he said, about how Katrina said, **_One of us._**

"You said, she said the dark spirit being released was, _One of us_ , right?"

He nodded, "Yes, I've yet to decipher it's meaning."

"She's a witch, right?" Nico asked, rhetorically, not giving him a chance to respond, "That's what it is. Us, didn't mean us, as in our team; it meant us, as in witches."

He stood, looking down at her, "Are you certain?"

She shrugged, "Why else would it be that she can only rise during a blood moon?"

Moments later, Tina and Abbie found them at the headstone. When Nico informed them of their conclusion, Tina — mentally — immediately begin thinking about the history of all the dark magic she knew to make an attempt at narrowing down who could have possibly been summoned.

Andy wandered through the murky cemetery, searching for the correct spot that Moloch had ordered him to go. It didn't take long to spot, and he didn't have much to do. Just sit the pendant on top of the stone, and wait for her to be awakened. She came with a sudden flame and a gush of smoke. Andy was both disgusted and afraid, and he wasn't sure if he was doing a stand up job at masking it, especially not with her hissing at him the way she was. Regardless of how he felt, he had a mission to assist.

"He sent me to help you find the people you're looking for. And to give you a message. " He gulped as she slinked toward him, with the stride of a wounded panther, "The ashes of the pious will ordain your resurrection. Take their flesh and you will reclaim yours."

Andy slowed down as the car behind him came to a stop. Parking behind him, half hoping he got the right man so he could get this over with, half hoping it was a case of mistaken identity so someone didn't have to die tonight, he got out and approached.

The man rolled down the window and waited until the man for close. "Officer, I don't believe I was speeding."

Andy disregarded his guilt. His decisions were not his own, he understood that. It didn't make him feel better, but he understood that.

He kept it short, "Name, please."

"Uh, Jeremy Steven Furth."

Half disappointed, half relieved. "Jeremy, wherever this road takes you, and it won't be far, I want you to know it wasn't personal."

Jeremy looked completely bewildered as Andy walked away. Nevertheless, he shook it off. He needed to head home. He turned the key. His car wouldn't start back. He didn't understand; it was just fine and functional a moment ago. The officer's words raddled his brain, not matter how much he wished they weren't. Still, he tried to crank his car again.

There was crash, accompanied by this sudden weight on the hood of his car. Jeremy looked up, caught wind of what seemed to be a woman, charred to a crisp with a sinister gaze laid upon him. The only thing he heard after were his own screams. She placed a hand on his windshield, and within mere seconds, his car was engulfed in flames.

The next morning, they accompanied Abbie to work, again. Her mood today could almost be described as dismissive, if you didn't know her well enough. Which Crane didn't, neither did Nico, but she couldn't say she was genuinely invested either so she was in no place to truly judge. Tina, however, after years of writing and spending time with her in dreams, knew faux nonchalance when she saw it. That being said, she wasn't too concerned, either. Crane, however, couldn't let it go.

He went on and on about witches and their link to the lunar cycle, as if it needed to be explained. As if it weren't the most basic of witch knowledge a person could have. Tina wondered if he knew how pretentious yet inadequate he sounded. Abbie wasn't giving him the response he desired. Tina could see his toddler-esque ways crawling out of him.

He huffed, "Oh, does this not concern you?"

"Of course it does, but you gotta give me a minute to find my feet here." She gave him a pointed look, "I was on my way to Quantico two seconds ago to be a criminal profiler, and now I am profiling a witch. It's gonna take a little catching up for me."

He seemed to understand, if how he back off a bit was any indication.

She chortled, "I mean, what, are we supposed to do, put out an APB on a woman with warts and a broom?"

"Wow," Nico released a short breath of air, "That was offensive."

Impassively, Tina added, "Extremely."

Abbie held up her hands in a surrendering fashion, "Excuse me. I meant no offense."

"Nico, take your puppy elsewhere."

Crane looked around, in search for a dog of some sort. His eyebrows furrowed and his general disposition sank when Nico dragged his arm and began to drag him.

"Am I the puppy?"

She hummed, "You're the puppy." She tightened her grip against his resistance. Crane conceded, on account of the fact that she was physically stronger than she let on, and clearly her mother's daughter.

Tina watched them leave, waiting until they were out of sight to give Abbie her undivided attention.

"Abigail," she hardened her voice the way she did when she was parenting or when she used to fuss at Robert. Abbie's response, widened eyes, back straightened, let her know it held a similar and therefore desired effect with her, "get it together. This isn't about you or your emotions or beliefs. Stifle that, shove it down. Get down to business."

"Excuse me?" Abbie scowled, invading Tina's personal space. Tina had gotten her attention sure, but she was nothing like Robert. She wasn't going to cower, if and when she felt attacked. "Do you have any idea what I've lost?"

Tina's mind flashed to Amy and to Robert, which only made her harden, emotionally. Her voiced deepened, "We've all lost things, Abbie, irreplaceable things." When she took a step forward, Abbie _almost_ stepped back. "But, this isn't the place for that. So, if you've not properly dealt with your feelings yet, don't have them. We don't have time." Abbie's jaw went a little slack. Tina took a step back and softened everything about herself, "We can focus on them after the mission."

Abbie didn't have the chance to respond. As soon as she opened her mouth, the phone rang. Tina watched as she glowered, snatching the phone off the act. Few words were exchanged before the color drained from her face and her eyes were laced with sympathy. Tina maintained her overall steely disposition, in a general sense, but if you looked deep enough within her eyes, concern was there. Not long after she had answered the phone, she was hanging up.

She gathered her things, "We have a crime scene."

The crime scene was ghastly. Even from a distance.

Upon arrival, they split: Abbie talked to the lead firemen as the Minorus went with Crane to look at the car and the body.

Nico looked around, trying to locate a point of origin for the fire. The windshield was destroyed to near completion, with the exception of some shards of glass in the corners and on the sides, here and there. The grill of the car and headlights were also burnt to smithereens, but the hood of the car was in tact. As if it had been protected in some way.

Tina and Crane inspected the inside of the car. More specifically, Tina inspected the body while Crane looked at the surrounding interior for more details.

The victim was charred to a crisp. So much so that Tina felt as though his teeth would turn into ash, if touched. Yet and still, as badly as his body was burnt, that wasn't the most important or — to Tina — most eye-catching thing about this sight. It was that the mad had been very clearly unprofessionally eviscerated. Quite brutally, in fact. As if something clawed into his chest and ripped his heart out.

She stepped back and Crane leant forward, looking over the body now, not noticing anything particular relevant in anything he had been looking at before. Almost immediately, he noticed the gaping hole in the victim's chest. He leaned in closer, tried to get a better look inside his hollowed out chest. When he reached out to touch him, Tina slapped his shoulder before he could make contact and he dropped his hand, standing to back away.

Abbie walked over as Nico joined them from looking at the vehicle's exterior. Her upper lip curled and she felt sick staring directed at the cadaver yet she couldn't look away.

"What is that?"

Tina shot her a brief glance, over the shoulder before looking back at the body, "Victim's heart has been ripped out."

"Does that mean something to you?" Abbie asked, the question directed at both Tina and Crane.

Tina gave a light shrug, scanning her memories as Crane scanned his own. She remembered the things she had learned in history (of witchcraft) as a young child. She squinted; something stood out.

"There was this ancient witch, who had sworn allegiance to Lucifer's army. For centuries, she rules dark covens around the world. During the time of the Revolutionary War," she glanced at Crane, "she disappeared to the East coast, and there are only rumors of what happened to her there. Whatever it was, the dark coven needed a new leader, after."

"One night, my regiment was returning to camp near Albany."

Tina rolled her eyes at Crane's opening. He was always so dramatic. As if his word choice wasn't enough, he just had to use the tone of a Shakespearean narrator.

"The moon hung low in its cycle, as it does now a blood moon, as Katrina described. The destruction was far too extensive for common artillery. There were bodies everywhere." Crane shuddered, inwardly.

The events of this night had always made him uneasy. This was the first time he had ever had to speak the tale aloud.

"Our men, reduced to ash, which gave way to a darker revelation as I sensed a presence in the woods around us." The forensic team came over to dust the car. They walked away to give them space as Crane continued his tale, "I could not have told you back then what it was I saw that night, but it chilled my blood like nothing before. These strange murders became more frequent."

"Soon, a tale spread of a dark coven led by a high priestess known as Serilda of Abaddon." He gave a short glance to Tina then back to Abbie his eyes went, "General Washington came to believe the redcoats had formed a dark alliance with this sorceress."

They approached the car, positioning to go to their regular seated arrangements.

Nico found her voice for the first time since she saw the body, "Makes sense that the Brits would team up with the dark coven," she mused, "All things considered, ya know?"

Abbie opened her car door and threw the lock for the other doors. They all got in.

She cranked the car, "I saw something mentioned in Corbin's files about two witch covens in Sleepy Hollow, one good, one evil."

"Light and dark," Nico corrected before her mother had the chance because Tina was surely about to do the same.

Tina smirked to herself, with a small sense of pride. It was always important to her that the craft be important to her children. It had always been more important to Nico than to Amy; it was what bonded the two of them. Tina liked getting reminders of that, no matter how small.

Abbie gave her a look as if to say, _huh?_ Nico put on her seatbelt, "You said, good and evil. There is no good or evil, in terms when talking about witchcraft. There's only light and dark, which are really only different in terms of where the magic is drawn from and the way it affects the user, but either or could be used for any of what could be described as good or evil."

Crane filed that information away in his endless memory of knowledge. He looked back and forth between the Minorus, thinking.

Nico went in, "You are, typically, born into a specific coven, though."

"Where do you fall?" Crane asked Nico. Both Minorus stiffened.

Nico grimaced, remembering her family history, "None of your business."

Abbie let out a quiet, "Well, okay," before she pulled out, telling them more about the files Sheriff Corbin kept.

His office was empty when they got there. Frustrated, Abbie stalked off, instructing them to stay put as she went to find out what happened to everything.

Crane looked around, found himself totally entranced by the overhead lights. He reached up to touch one; Nico slapped his ribcage, bringing him to back reality. He gave her a questioning gaze, wondering why he had been hit. She looked at him as if he were an idiot; he straightened up.

Tina noticed the approach of a short, barely taller than her and she was tiny, Hispanic man. His eyes touched all of them, at some point, but he was obviously more focused on Ichabod. He looked at Crane as if he posed some sort of threat. Not a dangerous one. Tina could see a small hint of jealousy in his eyes. The kind that only love for a woman could cause. She had questions for Abbie, later.

"You're Ichabod Crane," Fake smiled coupled with a modern, relaxed soldier's stance; strong, legs apart, back straight with his hands behind his back; as if to make himself seem taller than he actually was.

Tina recognized as that thing men did to throw their weight around without actually doing it. She looked at Crane, who seemed to pick up on it as well. She was interested in seeing how this would play out.

(Nico, stood by, away, touching things that probably shouldn't have been being touched by her.)

Crane caught the energy, didn't so much pick up on the significance of the stance. He squared his own chest and looked down at the little man. Tina laughed, inwardly at that but kept her stoic expression.

"I am, indeed." He looked the man up and down, "And you are?"

He ignored Crane's question, "You were a suspect in Sheriff Corbin's murder."

"Wrongfully accused as it were," he checked his own defensively tone, not wanting the man to know he had gotten under his skin, "And duly released."

"What're you still doing here?"

Crane thought fast, "I'm a history professor, on leave from Oxford."

Tina cringed. That would be much too easy to verify and therefore disproved.

"Oxford, huh?" This man didn't buy what Crane was selling and it showed. He kept his easy grin and nodded, "You know, I had a cousin who studied at Oxford. What did you teach?"

"Treatises of Civil Government. With a focus on the American Revolutionary War."

He laughed, "That's got to be embarrassing. You know, teaching a war where we kicked your ass."

Tina smized, knowing that would truly get Crane going. There was great fun in watching a penis swinging contest, especially when the instigator had barked at the wrong dog. Crane was the least of this man's threat, in every sense of the word. If only he knew.

His comment had the expected effect, baiting him, albeit in a different way than intended, "We? I didn't realize you were there."

His smiled when from faux kindness to mildly malicious, "No, but I was 101st Airborne in Iraq," he took a step closer to Crane, "What war did you fight in, Professor?"

 _The one he just mentioned_ , Tina thought but kept it to herself.

"One I pray is never doomed to repeat itself, sir."

Immediately, Crane noticed Abbie standing behind this guy. His eyes signaled it coupled with a small intake of air. The guy turned around, looked at a child who had been caught drawing on the walls.

"Abbie," his voice wasn't nearly as stern as it had just been. "Hi."

She looked rather indifferent to him, which made things that much funnier to Tina. All this dick swinging, and she didn't even care about him. Who even was this man?

"Hi, Luke," her eyes went from him to Crane to Tina, where they stayed longer than they had on either of the former before back to Luke, shortly before looking at anything but.

"What's he doing here, Ab?"

"They," she said, pointedly, forcing him to acknowledge the rest of her team, knowing the reason he was so zeroed on Crane, "are consulting for the Sheriff's department on orders from Irving." Indifference was replaced with annoyance, She looked back at her team, gave a brief grin, put some pep in her voice. "We're on the clock." Back at Luke, her previous tone resumed, "Talk later," She looked away, "Let's go." She ordered, walking away, and the three of them listened.

She didn't say where they were going. Nor did they ask. They, moreover, Crane, had more pressing questions. Though, even with his freakishly long legs, he seemed to be having issue keeping up with Abbie's stride. He definitely wasn't the only one.

"Facial expressions have changed little, if at all, over the centuries." He caught up as best as he could, crouched down to ear level as they walked, "Were you and Luke formerly betrothed?"

Nico frowned at his word choice. But, for Tina, the question sparked a whole knew line of interest. She came to a brusque stop and turned to face them.

"He's my ex." Abbie corrected, looking at Tina, as if to put her at ease when she continued, "We weren't betrothed." It certainly did put Tina at ease. Seeing that, she looked back at Crane. "There was no betrothing. And we've got bigger problems." She sighed, "The files were moved to the archives. I need clearance to get in, and Irving isn't answering his phone."

"Where is this building?" He asked, mentally going over the layout of the Sleepy Hollow he once knew.

"Across the street, the one with the guard out front."

His eyes lit up, "The armory? I know another way in," he turned to walked away, "To the basement."

They all followed him.

As they walked down the stairs he asked, "Your affair did not end well, I take it."

Abbie ignored that, "What's in the basement?"

"I will show you," Crane responded, curtly. Tina just waited for him to continue asking the questions she wanted to. Nico silently listened along, "What was the impetus of your disbandment?"

"We broke up when I was leaving for Quantico," was all Abbie said.

Crane's eyebrows drooped a bit, and Tina thought to herself, _That's it?_

"But you didn't leave." He pointed out.

 _No_ , she thought, _but Tina's here_. She almost said out loud. She glanced at Tina, who was staring a burning gaze right back at her waiting for her response. She wasn't a hundred percent sure what Tina being here meant for her love life, but she certainly wanted to keep the door open. And, she didn't want Tina thinking she wasn't keeping an open mind. She always didn't exactly want Tina to know she was keeping an open mind, so she was really stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She offered a simple, "Nope," in response to Crane.

"Then, theoretically, you could rekindle your relationship." He pointed out yet again.

 _I wish the hell she would_ , Tina thought and her face reflected the statement. Nico noticed, thought about her she would react to women throwing themselves at her dad. How she and Robert both feared for those women. Tina had always been quite territorial. Not only had Tina noticed, but Abbie could feel it. She avoided Tina's gaze. Her annoyance with Crane and his line of questioning at an all-time high.

Her hands flailed in frustration, "I will literally pay you to stop talking."

Crane was ever so oblivious to the subtle, non verbal exchanges happening behind him did no such thing, "I would happily accept, as I am in need of currency," They reached the basement and he turned to face her when they reached a specific spot. "But since you did not hesitate to interrogate me about Katrina, I think I'm entitled to my query."

"I believe I'm entitled to tell you it's my private business."

Crane hummed, amused, "Well, Sleepy Hollow is full of secrets." He turned his back to her, "I'm about to show you another." He moved the shelf, his once near giddy expression dropping, "It's been sealed off."

He walked away, over to where the fire extinguisher was held and drew out a hammer. Abbie made a couple attempts at his attention but failed. She and Nico jumped, instinctively, when he took the hammer to the wall.

"What the hell, dude?" Nico exclaimed.

While at the exact same time, Abbie shouted, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't just do that."

Tina said nothing, curious as to where he was going with this.

"During the war, we built a series of subterranean tunnels beneath the city to allow us to transport munitions and supplies in secret. This entrance should connect us directly to the annex." Crane explained, continuing to tear away at the wall. When he had created a hole large enough to walk through, he stood back. Admired his handiwork before looking back at his team. "Shall we?"

Tina stiffened. Nico just looked over at her, looking for a sign of what they were going to do. Abbie walked through. The Minorus were behind shortly after. Tina first, looking around before waving in for Nico. They stepped into the dark, dusty old tunnels, filled with cobwebs, spiders, insects..Tina clutched the Staff in her purse. If a bat flew out, she'd lose it. Crane sparked up a match found a lantern, lighting it. Abbie grabbed her own flashlight as Crane stalked away. They begin walking in the the direction Crane had just set off in.

"End of that tunnel," He pointed, "bares the bones of convicted witches."

It wasn't something Tina and Nico needed to be told; they could feel it, the power, the turmoil of the convicted coursing through them. It sent chills through their bodies. It was one thing to know the history. But, to come face to face with it, to feel it, was something else entirely.

"Why are they buried down here?" Abbie asked.

"It was decreed that witches were undeserving of a proper burial."

"But Katrina had a headstone."

"Katrina's headstone was a decoy," Nico quipped.

"Indeed," Crane kept walking, "A ruse to hide the Hourseman's head."

Abbie kept a watchful, empathetic eye on Crane, "So, her death and remains?"

"Her remains," He didn't even like to think about it, "remain a mystery."

As they walked, Tina made a mental note of the gun powder, still packed away in an old crate. Because she didn't say anything when Abbie asked, but it could definitely be used later.

They kept going, approaching a seeming dead end. But, there was a ladder at the end. Crane headed up first. They could hear him knocking away at what they could assume was a barrier of sorts before they heard metal slide against metal and he disappeared up the later. Abbie was first to follow him, followed by Tina, followed by Nico.

Sure enough, the ladder led them straight to the archives. Abbie easily found Corbin's files. They all got their hands on them, divided and conquered — not just Corbin's files but everything — looking for anymore relevant, recorded history that could helpful right now.

Nico was the first to find anything of any relevance. She read aloud, "Serilda of Abaddon," to capture the room. Everyone migrated over to her.

"You guys keep saying Abaddon," Abbie recalled, "What is that, is that a place?"

"No, it's a form of Romani Greek." He said, as if that was just it.

Which wasn't completely accurate nor did it answer the question to completion. Tina waited for a further explanation, but when she noticed he wasn't going to provide one, she stepped in.

"Not just that." He looked at her, a bit confused and skeptical. As if he couldn't imagine that he missed something or didn't know something. "And Abaddon is a Hebrew term; Apollyon is it's Greek equivalent. In Hebrew, Abaddon means Angel of Death."

Abbie looked impressed, seeing the way her correction seemed to put Mr. All-Knowing to shame.

Nico cut in, "Abaddon is a demon in the legion of Lucifer, a leader in fact. He's known to some as Lucifer's right hand man, while Azrael — Angel of Destruction — is his left."

"Any spirit or demon of death, any witch would be either be a descendent of this demon or is sworn this his allegiance, and they would carry his title, hence Serilda of Abaddon."

Crane grumbled, "Nonetheless, many of the writings here," he said, looking over Nico's shoulder, "are in Greek." He took the book from her hands, "So, unless any of you could read it, I render myself an asset."

Nico took the book back, and begin reading in complete Greek. Crane's jaw dropped, and he stammered on words that he wasn't even sure he was trying to say. Abbie was, in simple terms, astonished. Between Tina's prideful look directed at Nico, Nico's face, which held an expression that could only be interpreted as, _Now what?_ and Crane's initial statement, it was more than safe to assume she was the only one of them who only spoke English.

"You all speak Greek?"

"Among other languages, yes." Crane said, but it didn't feel extraordinary anymore.

"It's required to learn, when learning witchcraft," Nico explained. "Most dead languages are."

"Mhm, that and I wanted my children to ahead of their peers, same as my parents wanted for me. We speak many languages."

Crane found himself wanting to see the smile that Tina was getting directed him. The one of astonishment because he was quite used to receiving it. And, being the only one to receive it.

"My memory's eidetic." He blurted. Tina rolled her eyes, because his inner child was showing once more. "I retain what I see in near perfect recollection. Sights, sounds, even smells." He achieved his goal, nonetheless. Abbie was successfully amazed.

Nico laughed, "Too bad you're missing 250 years of data." She looked back at the book, "Anyway, it says here that Serilda was basically defeated by her enemies, a dark coven who used light magic against her so that she would be weak enough to be killed by people." She skimmed then picked up when she found more information, "Citizens hunted her and burned her at the stake."

Nico read her documented last words, in Greek, without translation. She had honestly forgotten that everyone couldn't understand. Abbie awaited translation, but Nico didn't offer one, just kept reading, but to herself, now. So, Abbie looked Tina.

"By the turn of the blood moon, the ashes of your ancestry will be mine. Your flesh will be my flesh. I will live again."

Abbie nodded, thoughtfully. "The magistrate who sentenced her, what was his name?"

Crane made an attempt to read out the book over Nico's shoulder but she shrugged him away, put some space between them.

"Uh," she read, "Robert Daniel Further."

That was familiar. "The victim from today, his name was Jeremy Further."

"For a witch, who was burned, to resurrect, it would require ashes. Clearly, this is as much about life as it is revenge against the magistrate," Tina pointed out, "We need to look at his entire bloodline."

It wasn't a difficult find. Not necessarily, as time consuming as it may have been. When they finally located his records, they discovered he didn't have a very long line, which was a blessing. And there was only one family in town that tied to his bloodline, The Hemmingtons, which made their task that much easier.

When they made it, Abbie kicked the door, startling the lady of the house, who shrieked before immediately asking about her son who seemed to be missing. She completely disregarded Abbie's attempts to pacify her, in a complete state of panic. The only the she cared about was her son.

Nico set out to find the kid, and he wasn't hard to find. He had been crouched down near a bookshelf in a nearby hallway, shaking and horrified out his mind. Nico called for the rest of them and they found them. The mother and son embraced.

Tina didn't voice it, but she was shocked that he wasn't dead. If his ramblings were any indication, Serilda had definitely been here. Crane looked around, for some sort of explanation because he, too, was surprised to have found the boy alive. The bookshelf, the top shelf held two pictures of the same man with space in the middle.

He turned to the lady of the house, "Excuse me, Ma'am, is something missing from this shelf?"

The looked up and immediately knew what had been taken. "My God, my husband's urn."

Turns out, Kyle Hemmington wasn't the last Hemmington. Not by blood. The last Hemmington was dead and cremated which meant Serilda had everything she needed, and they were a bit too late.

Except they knew where she was going to be. The tunnels.

"After we catch her," Abbie asked as she drove off from the Hemmington residents, "we do what? Kill her? She's already dead."

"It's quite simple." Tina pulled out her Staff, "We burn her into ashes completely this time."

"By we, you mean you." Nico corrected, light-heartedly.

"Who else would do it?"

Abbie smirked, "Can't think anyone more capable than you, Tina."

"I take pride in that."

As soon as they got into the tunnels, Nico and Tina felt her. Not in the way things had been earlier with the bones. This was much more tangible, more concrete. It was some of the strongest power Tina had ever felt; definitely the strongest Nico had ever felt. Tina powered up the Staff, seeing it would be the only thing of any reason use. Issue was, just as they could feel her, she was certain that she felt them.

The level of power let she and Nico know something detrimental to their mission.

"We're too late," Nico muttered. "She's already found them."

"What?" Abbie's heart dropped to her stomach.

Crane, too, was filled with worry. "How do you know that?"

"I feel her," Tina answered, "that power." She activated her Staff. "She's in here somewhere. I can use this to find her."

They didn't split up. It had been suggested, but that would mean either being separated from daughter or her soulmate, and Tina refused to do either. Not against Serilda. The Staff could protect whoever was close by, so she needed them as close by as possible.

Tina could feel Serilda's presence growing stronger, meaning they were going the right way. Still, she wasn't within their line of sight. So, close wasn't close enough. Then, at a certain point, the Minorus felt pressure, weighted. They exchanged knowing glances: Serilda completed the ritual. The group collectively turned their heads, hearing a large gasp of air. There she was, on the ground, having just returned to complete human form.

Serilda got up to face them, having felt the witches' energy.

"We have to move." Tina ordered. No one needed to be told more than once. Tina planted the Staff firm on the ground, having no intentions of going with them.

As they were running, as told, Nico felt the urge to look back. When she did and saw her mother about to face Serilda head on. She ran back, unwilling to leave her. Abbie noticed from the corner of her eye and turned back for them both, provoking the same reaction with Crane.

Tina turned her head, bearing them coming back. She saw her daughter first. "No, Nico, go."

"Nope," Nico responded as if she were refusing to just take out the trash and not run from a life threatening situation. If not her mother, Nico had nothing. There wasn't a thing in heaven, hell or on Earth that could get her to leave.

She prepared her own magic, warming up her hands, literally, creating a fireball and sending it flying towards Serilda. It went flying past her mom, giving Tina an idea. Using the Staff, she intensified the flame, in terms of heat and speed while also making it an inescapable size. The flame burned brighter than the sun; they group — except Tina — had to turn their backs to shield their eyes.

Tina begin to back up, quickly as the large flame made its way to its target, having a plan in mind. The three of them followed her lead. With a safe distance between them and Serilda, Tina instructed them to crouch down low, behind the brick walls of the tunnel.

Serilda could heard taunting both Crane and Tina from behind the fire. Crane was more rattled, but Tina had heard those taunts and worse since she was born; it only made her turn up the heat on her impending doom.

Upon impact of the fire to Serilda, Tina used the Staff to cause an explosion, wanting Serilda to experience complete incineration. A fleeting scream could be heard before the explosion had it's desired effect. The Staff of One powered down. They came out of hiding to see the results, finding nothing but a large pile of ash where Serilda had once been standing.

Relief washed over the group, with the exception of Crane, who couldn't get Serilda's words out of his head. He eyed Tina, thinking about the things Serilda had said to her, called her. It wasn't clear or concrete, but it didn't need to be for him to know things she had said — whatever they meant — held great significance.

She was eager to take her daughter and get out of the tunnels. He couldn't say that he didn't understand the urgency; he definitely did. So, he held off his questions.

They group went to the archives. It was close by, and Tina was a little exhausted. Using the Staff always had it's consequences, her general moods were product of that. Using the Staff against near ancient, powerful entities, there was nothing that Tina could say she found to be more draining. And, she's given birth, without medicine, twice. She found a large cushioned couch and sunk into it.

To Crane, it seemed as though she had let her guard down. He looked around the annex, spotting Abbie and Nico, sitting together, nose deep in a book, talking about its contents, he could assume. He approached Tina, who was curled up with her eyes closed. It hadn't occured to him until just now that she was so petite. It was hard to believe someone so small, took up so much space with her presence.

Tina heard his heavy boots creeping up on her. When he stopped, standing over her, she opened her eyes and put on her scariest glare. Ichabod took a few steps back, but still, he had questions.

"In the tunnels," he battled between tiptoeing and getting straight to the point, unsure of which approach would annoy her the most, "what did Serilda mean by the things she said to you?" He cleared his throat, "If I recall, she'd labeled you a contaminated witch, who's greatest talents were being squandered. By this, what did she mean?"

Tina pushed herself out of the chair and onto her feet. She stepped in Crane's personal space, her movements slow, calculating and predatory. Crane felt the strong urge to create distance, but when he felt paralyzed, he wondered if it was her doing or his own fear.

"You should be more more concerned about getting your wife out of purgatory than my bloodline." Tina's voice reminded Crane of quiet thunder.

Ichabod released a some of the air that had been trapped him his lungs. He nodded, looked down at the floor. "I suppose that is a much more pressing matter."

She pushed past him, collected Nico and left. Crane wondered if he was still welcomed in her home. Abbie frowned, confused by the abrupt exit. She had really been enjoying Nico's company. And, it wasn't lost on her how Tina had left, despite not having her own car with her and without Crane, who was set to be staying with her. It also wasn't lost on her how Crane looked as if someone had just gotten their throat slit in front of him. She walked over to him.

"What did you do?" Serious as the question was, her light-hearted tone was no indication.

He looked at her, his jaw going slightly slack, "Why you do assume I must have done something?"

Abbie pursued her lips, raised an her right eyebrow and cocked her head to the side at an approximate forty-five degree angle and waited for him to recant.

"I asked a question that seems to have crossed a line."

"Oh," Was the only response she gave before walking back over to where Nico had been translating some records that were in Latin to her.

Crane followed her, "Oh? Are you not at all concerned about my inquiry, considering how upsetting it seemed to have been?" Abbie kept walking, shook her head. "Leftenant, how well acquainted with Ms. Minoru?"

"She's my soulmate, Crane." She turned around, head tilted, eyes traveling his face as if she were trying to find something.

"You've mentioned that, yes, but I did not know Katrina at all, prior to meeting her, and she is my soulmate as well. So, again, I ask, do you truly know her?"

Abbie's eyes cast downward, toward the floor. Not really zeroing in on the floor itself, eyes blinking rapidly, the way they tended to do she she was thinking or reflecting. Her and Tina's relationship leading up to this point flashed through her brain. From their first conversation to their first dreamscape to finding out she was married. From Amy being born to holding a baby Nico. To everything in between, and when she got to Amy's suicide, her mind slowed, and she couldn't think about anything but.

She looked back up at Crane, "I answer this with full confidence, yes. I truly know her."

"And, you have faith in her?"

That question made her skin crawl.

"Yes, Crane!" He jumped, not prepared for her snapping at him. She sighed, ran her hands over her face from top to bottom. "She wouldn't be here, if I didn't have faith in her." She chuckled, low, to herself, "I think she might be the only thing, person, I've ever had an honest, true faith in."

"I see," He didn't change his almost defensive deposition. "Forgive me, Leftenant, if I cannot share the same faith, but I have reason to believe we should be weary of her."

Abbie sat down, picked up at book, "You be weary. I trust her."


End file.
